Marc Webb had exactly one movie, the excellent (500) Days of Summer, before embarking on a blockbuster path with two The Amazing Spider-Man movies. That didn't last quite as long as he was probably hoping, but it may have been for the better because it freed him up to direct Gifted, an original drama starring a big-time superhero actor in Chris Evans.
Evans stars alongside Jenny Slate, Octavia Spencer, Lindsay Duncan, and McKenna Grace in the story of a single man trying to raise his brilliant young niece. But when his mother learns of her profound mathematical abilities, she has plans for her granddaughter that don't include him. Here's the official synopsis:
Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is a single man raising a child prodigy – his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) – in a coastal town in Florida. Frank’s plans for a normal school life for Mary are foiled when the seven-year-old’s mathematical abilities come to the attention of Frank’s formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Frank and Mary. Octavia Spencer plays Roberta, Frank and Mary’s landlady and best friend. Jenny Slate is Mary’s teacher, Bonnie, a young woman whose concern for her student develops into a connection with her uncle as well.
This may be the size of film that Webb is best suited to, but it also looks like the kind of story Evans complains about not being able to do enough because of his Marvel work. Gifted opens April 12th 2017.
