Lionsgate has set its release schedule for American Pastoral, a crime drama based on Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, helmed by Ewan McGregor in his directorial debut. The film, which also stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, and Dakota Fanning, will open in limited release on October 21 and then expand the following weekend. It will go against The Orchard’s Christine starring Rebecca Hall which will be in its second weekend of limited release as well as PureFlix’s I’m Not Ashamed.

Adapted for the screen by John Romano, American Pastoral follows a family whose seemingly idyllic existence is shattered by the social and political turmoil of the 1960s. McGregor stars as Seymour “Swede” Levov, a once legendary high school athlete who is now a successful businessman married to Dawn (Connelly), a former beauty queen. But turmoil brews beneath the polished veneer of Swede’s life. When his beloved teenage daughter, Merry (Fanning), disappears after being accused of committing a savage act of political terrorism, Swede dedicates himself to finding her and reuniting his family. What he discovers shakes him to the core, forcing him to look beneath the surface and confront the chaos that is shaping the world around him.

Lakeshore Entertainment’s Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Andre Lamal produced. [Source]