Steve Carell in Robert Zemeckis'
"WELCOME TO MARWEN"
“I have hope, and I have my town.”
Academy Award® winner ROBERT ZEMECKIS — the groundbreaking filmmaker behind Forrest Gump, Flight and Cast Away — directs STEVE CARELL as a new kind of hero in a movie unlike any that has ever been made before. Based on a miraculous true story, Welcome to Marwen reveals one man’s fight to heal himself, and restore his spirit, through the power of his artistic imagination.
When a devastating attack shatters Mark Hogancamp (Carell) and wipes away all his memories, no one expects him to recover. But Mark, putting together pieces from his old and new life, meticulously creates a mythical Belgian town, Marwen, where he can be Captain Hogie, a World War II fighter pilot. Here, in Marwen, Mark can be a hero, fight his enemies, and rely on his friends. As he builds an astonishing art installation peopled with breathtakingly life-like dolls—a testament to the most powerful women he knows—he draws strength from his fantasy world to triumph in the real world.
A bold, wondrous and timely film from a revolutionary pioneer of contemporary cinema, Welcome to Marwen shows that when your only weapon is your imagination…you can find courage in a most unexpected place.
Starring alongside Carell in this genre-defying film is LESLIE MANN (Blockers, The Other Woman) as Nicol, the compassionate neighbor who captures Mark’s heart and becomes the newest addition to Marwen. The other significant women in Mark’s life, who become his protectors in his fictional town, include Emmy Award winner MERRITT WEVER (Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, AMC’s The Walking Dead) as Roberta, who works at the hobby store Mark frequents; EIZA GONZALEZ (Baby Driver, Highway) as Carlala, a strong-willed co-worker with whom Mark works at the Avalanche Roadhouse; GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE (HBO’s Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as Anna, the dedicated homecare worker who visits him monthly; JANELLE MONÁE (Hidden Figures, Moonlight) as GI Julie, who befriends Mark during his struggle to walk again; and LESLIE ZEMECKIS (A Christmas Carol, Beowulf) as Suzette, an actress from his favorite adult-fantasy videos who becomes a sexy French Resistance fighter.
DIANE KRUGER (Inglourious Basterds, In the Fade) portrays Deja Thoris, the alluring and enigmatic doll who toys with Captain Hogie, and NEIL JACKSON (HBO’s Westworld, Quantum of Solace), who portrays Nicol’s former boyfriend – and becomes Captain Hogie’s arch enemy in Marwen: an SS Major in the Nazi regime. FALK HENTSCHEL (Transcendence, White House Down) plays one of the men who attacked Mark and who, in Marwen, becomes a sadistic Nazi named Captain Topf.
Working from a screenplay Zemeckis penned alongside CAROLINE THOMPSON (Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas), the director leads an accomplished behind-the-scenes crew that includes cinematographer C. KIM MILES (The Flash, Lost in Space), production designer STEFAN DECHANT (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Kong: Skull Island), editor JEREMIAH O’DRISCOLL (Rings, Allied), costume designer JOANNA JOHNSTON (Allied, The BFG), visual effects supervisor KEVIN BAILLIE (Allied, Star Trek: Beyond) and composer ALAN SILVESTRI (Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One).
The film is produced by Oscar®-winning producer STEVE STARKEY (Forrest Gump, Flight), JACK RAPKE (Cast Away, Flight), Zemeckis, and CHERYLANNE MARTIN (The Pacific, Flight) of Zemeckis’ Universal-based production company, ImageMovers. Welcome to Marwen is executive produced by JACQUELINE LEVINE (Allied, The Walk), and by JEFF MALMBERG, who directed the riveting 2010 documentary, Marwencol, which inspired the film.
Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures' "WELCOME TO MARWEN" Opens In Theaters Nationwide Dec. 21