Dakota Johnson (“The Lost Daughter”) and Sean Penn (“Mystic River”) are set to star in the upcoming single-setting drama “Daddio,” written and directed by Christy Hall in her feature-length directorial debut. The new cab ride film envisioned initially as a stage play, will hit the big screen on June 28, and Sony Pictures Classics has released a trailer for “Daddio,” giving audiences a better idea of what to expect from the pic that previously debuted at Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival last year.
The story of “Daddio” is simple but seemingly effective: a woman (Johnson) gets in the back of a cab at JFK airport, and she and the cab driver (Penn) get into a long, thoughtful, philosophical, and challenging conversation as she takes the long ride back home.
Here is how Sony’s official logline describes the new film:
“Daddio” celebrates the power found in those rare moments of pure human connection, even with an unlikely person. This highly contained yet kinetic character study—encapsulated in one single cab ride—explores the complexities inherent to the secrets we keep, particularly the ones locked away on our phones. It’s about truth and illusion, how we so effortlessly substitute one for the other out of survival. It’s about the hurtful memories of childhood and how past trauma can manifest itself in the most profound ways. It’s about the dance between the pain and poetry that is the human experience.
“Because she is our generation of women who are still approaching these men in a nonjudgmental way because it’s fascinating. We’re not threatened by it,” “Daddio” producer Ro Donnelly recently told IndieWire about why the film, relying on dialogue and the two leads’ charms, works. “And that reveals her power, the fact that she holds her own. She really is reflective of all the women who made this movie; she’s our girl. And we like that she’s so curious and almost tickled by [him], especially when he’s saying crazy shit. She’s like, ‘Oh, really?’ She goes head-to-head with him. And that’s what we love about her is: she’s not afraid. She’s not afraid to really fucking go for it.”
The Playlist reviewed “Daddio” when it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival back in 2023, and you can read our impressions of the pic right here, which referred to some highlights, such as the characters’ connection being “genuine” and hailing the cinematography from Phedon Papamichael.