Telluride Adds Jennifer Garner’s ‘Butter’

Part of the fun of the prestigious Telluride Film Festival is its secret lineup that’s only revealed at the last minute, as only yesterday, did organizers reveal the slate of programming — less than 24 hours before the event kicked off today. As longtime attendees know, there are usually one or two secret or surprise screenings revealed over the weekend, and THR reports that “Butter,” starring Jennifer Garner, will most likely get the open slot on Saturday night at the same time as the George Clooney retrospective, having its world premiere at Telluride instead of Toronto.

Directed by Jim Field Smith (”She’s Out of My League”), the story follows Laura (Garner), the wife of former butter sculpting champion Bob (Ty Burrell), who tries to take the mantle from her husband only to be thwarted by a young adopted African American girl (Yara Shahidi), who has discovered that she has a natural talent for making art out of butter. Olivia Wilde, Hugh Jackman, Ashley Greene and Alicia Silverstone also star in the film written by Nicholls Fellowship winner Jason Micaleff, and it has been one of the most anticipated films hitting the festival circuit this fall. It’s a bit of a wild card at this point but a strong showing tomorrow night could shake things up.

The Weinstein Company are releasing the film, and after Madonna‘s “W.E.” was roundly dismissed at Venice, they are likely hoping “Butter” can pick up some of that Oscar hopeful slack. Don’t be surprised if Harvey shuffles his deck a bit if word is strong on “Butter.” The film will hit TIFF in just over a week; no release date has been set…yet.