In Eternity, a love triangle breaks out in the least expected place: the Afterlife. From this whimsical concept blooms a bold, heart-stirring rom-com, a journey into a charming pop vision of post-earthly existence and how we take the measure of a lifetime of love and happiness.
When Larry Cutler (Miles Teller) unexpectedly passes before his wife Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), he’s shocked to awaken in a chaotic waystation, where panicked sellers hawk an endless supply of possible afterlives. Here, he learns from his assigned Afterlife Coordinator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) that he has just one week to confront the ultimate dilemma: where, and with whom, to spend eternity. But when Joan arrives soon after him, she finds her first love Luke (Callum Turner) has been waiting in limbo for 67 years to be with her. She is faced with an impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and the man who promises her the life she could’ve lived.
The question at the heart of Eternity’s charms is what might, for each of us, give the Sweet Hereafter its irresistible sweetness. Lit by spirited performances from an irresistibly charismatic central cast, director David Freyne conjures a fresh, funny, and unabashedly romantic vision of the after world as a visually dazzling playground of human dreams and the backdrop for the biggest decision one will ever face.
The rules of this afterlife quickly become clear. Each new arrival lands, dazed and confused, at the Junction, a cross between a grand railway station, convention centre floor, and Mid-Century hotel. Appearing as the age they were at their peak happiness in life, the newly deceased are bombarded with billboards, ads, and fast-talking salespeople peddling options for perpetuity: from Man Free World to Capitalist World, Surf World to Infantilization World. But once you choose your eternal destination there’s no going back. And if you can’t choose, you must take a service job in the Junction, residing in a shabby studio apartment until you’re ready to move on.
Visions of celestial realms of one sort or the other have long drawn ambitious filmmakers, from Ernst Lubitsch and Powell & Pressburger to Warren Beatty and Albert Brooks. In Eternity, Freyne took this history to heart, winking playfully at the many movies that have gazed upwards before. But he also took his own enchantingly handmade approach to crafting a next life that brings into focus all that we hunger for in this world. For at the heart of The Junction is an all-encompassing shopping mall, putting on offer every human obsession, pipedream, and happy ending that ever floated anyone’s boat. It’s designed to get people in and out as fast as possible.
Intensive world-building for a world that could rely on little else but uncorked imagination took Freyne to his creative edges. But his anchor for the storytelling was a light-as-clouds, tender touch with the characters at its heart.
“I loved working with this giant canvas, building the architecture of The Junction, and playing with endless possibilities for all the eternities,” says Freyne. “But I never lost sight of the fact that what I most wanted to do is to celebrate love in its many forms, to look at how our idea of love changes over time, and to take you into the impossible choice of a woman torn between two men who at different times meant everything to her. I had the chance to say everything I ever wanted to say about love and life.”
From the Ether to the Black List
In 2022, Patrick Cunnane’s script for Eternity shot to the top of Hollywood’s famed Black List of the best-loved screenplays not yet produced. Cunnane’s take on a fanciful afterlife outpost that closely mirrored our own earthly matters was a hugely entertaining read, with two moving love stories in a tug-of-war at its core. Yet this elegant romantic fable had obvious obstacles. For one, it was that rare story requiring an absolute totality of vision to even get it off the ground.
To his surprise, that vision came to Freyne instantaneously. The Irish writer and director had come to the fore with the acclaimed coming-of-age comedy Dating Amber. But he’d never approached anything remotely on the inventive scale of Eternity. “I had an instinctual and emotional reaction to the essence of the story, which sent my brain into overdrive,” Freyne recalls.
From there, sheer exuberance took over. “Right off the bat, I had this complete idea of The Junction as a bureaucratic Brutalist hub that encased a chaotic tourism expo of eternities. All surrounded by painted backdrops,” Freyne remembers. “All manner of ideas came flooding in… it all was weirdly crystal clear.”
Freyne continues: “I imagined it as this intense pressure cooker of an environment to enhance the anguish of Joan’s impossible decision. For me, it was vital that for Joan, however daunting the choice, there truly is no right or wrong. There is no good guy or bad guy. I love the idea of the audience arguing over whether she made the right choice or not.”
Though sceptical of the notion, Freyne admits it felt like Fate with a capital F. “I’ve dreamed all my life of making rom coms in the vein of Lubitsch, Wilder, and Sturges,” he says. “I adore that era when people believed rom coms could say everything, could be the deepest films, no matter how feathery their touch. And here was my chance. Eternity might be set in the afterlife, but what mattered to me is the characters are caught up in conflicts that feel very human and very true to our experiences.”
Still, Freyne had his doubts that producers Trevor and Tim White would entrust the film’s grand scope to “a little Irish indie filmmaker.” As it turned out, the White brothers were so enamoured by his ideas they eagerly handed him the creative reigns. “Trevor, Tim, and Pat were incredibly gracious in inviting me on as a co-writer and director,” says Freyne. “No matter the oddities I brought in or how foundational the changes, they put their entire might behind me, and that was an insane boost of confidence.”
As Freyne completed a rewrite and dove into an elaborate design phase, a further boost of confidence came as actors started reacting to the script. Miles Teller, acclaimed for work ranging from the intense drama of Whiplash to blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, was inspired to switch to a new gear to embody Larry Cutler’s humble bid to win over his spouse all over again.
“Eternity was one of the funniest scripts I’ve read in my life, and that got me excited,” Teller recalls. “It’s been a minute since I’ve done comedy, and I’d forgotten just how freeing the form can be at its most creative. But this is one of those comedies that also has poetic, beautiful scenes dealing with life, love, and loss, and for me that was a powerful combination.”
Elizabeth Olsen, award-winning in Martha Marcy May Marlene and known worldwide as Marvel superhero the Scarlet Witch, felt her own heartbeat accelerating in the face of Joan’s impossible choice.
“This is not your ordinary love triangle, because Joan has to make a decision about love outside all the normal framing of earthly time and circumstances,” Olsen notes. “Her decision is truly about forever this time, and I was so drawn to that dilemma. And I also just loved that David wanted to bring these characters into the most beautifully cinematic world of imagination.”
The runaway potential for creativity was also a lure for Callum Turner, the charismatic young lead seen in Masters of the Air, The Capture, and the Fantastic Beasts series. “Eternity is a visually amazing, sparkling comedy that takes its characters on an emotional journey,” Turner, says. “This is the kind of movie everyone loves but, people say, ‘no one makes anymore.’”
Pat Cunnane served in President Obama’s White House for six years, including as his Senior Writer and Deputy Director of Messaging. In 2017, Pat transitioned from writing for the real White House to a fake one on ABC’s Designated Survivor. Since then, Pat has set up features at many studios and had multiple scripts land on The Black List, including Eternity. It was recently announced that Pat and Miles Teller will re-team with Star Thrower for Winter Games at Paramount, which will see Teller star opposite Hailee Steinfeld. Pat has additional feature projects at Sony, Netflix, Amazon, and Artists Equity. On the TV side, Pat has current pilots at Netflix, Amazon, and NBC. He wrote a memoir, West Winging It, which was published by Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster). Pat lives just outside Philadelphia with his wife Stephanie, whom he met in second grade, and their daughters, Ella and Kaya.
David Freyne is a writer and director from Ireland. Following a degree in English and Philosophy, David did a Film Studies Masters in UCD where he focused on Production Design. Although his passion was always for writing and directing. David made several award-winning short films, including The Man In 301, Passing, and The Tree. His first feature was The Cured, starring Elliot Page. The film screened at TIFF, London Film Festival, Sitges, as well as winning Best Horror Feature at Fantastic Fest. David’s follow up is the acclaimed comedy drama, Dating Amber, starring Sharon Horgan. This semi-autobiographical film received numerous awards including the Audience Award at NewFest and the Pink News Best Feature Film, as well 2 IFTA awards. He is currently adapting it for the stage. David’s latest film is the high-concept romantic comedy, Eternity, for A24. It stars Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, Callum Turner, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
