Judy Greer faces mom’s nightmare in ‘Eric LaRue’

Judy Greer easily embraced Michael Shannon s film-directing debut the somber Eric LaRue with its sadly relevant subject of children killing children Inspired obviously by terrible events Eric LaRue casts Greer as Eric s mother Janice who can t bring herself to visit her son in prison a school shooter sentenced for murdering three bullying classmates The role a rare lead in a career that spans decades was enticing because of Shannon Mike wanting me to be part of the first movie he ever directed was hugely flattering she noted in a Zoom interview On top of that this story was really moving and layered I was scared to tell it but it s critical as an artist to help shed light onto tricky subjects and feelings While Janice is sought by her Presbyterian minister to meet with the grieving mothers in the hope of healing her husband Ron Alexander Skarsg rd embraces a rival pastor who preaches a harshly judgmental religion where women know their place Where did Greer begin With a little bit of research I started seeing who these women were what their experience was When we see Janice and Ron it s almost like two strangers in this house They don t have a strong enough foundation that can carry them through something like this So we re watching the unraveling of this couple We re watching them try to find comfort away from each other in other places besides the marriage In separate churches and in separate tactics Janice is wanting to connect with these mothers and have a moment with them so she can come out of this fog While Ron is engaging in a religion that says It s all a divine plan If you believe in God you believe everything s that happened is meant to be It was so beautiful but so sad to see where they have ended up As to why Janice hasn t visited Eric in prison I keep trying to answer that for myself Greer disclosed When we were making the movie it felt like she needed to have answers before she went to him Certainly the mothers talk about how awful it is that their kids are gone They would definitely love to see their kid Janice needed to resolve her own grief before she could see him But I do think about that a lot I mean I think about this movie all the time And it changes for me what it s about and what I sit with about it I certainly haven t necessarily moved on even though we shot it a while ago I think part of the reason is because we as a society have not moved on from this Eric LaRue is in theaters April