The Death & Life of John F. Donovan

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan is a drama from 2019 about a young actor looking back on letters he exchanged as a boy with an American television star who has since died. Ten years after the man's death, the correspondence shapes how the younger actor understands fame and its costs, and how it affected both of their lives.

Xavier Dolan directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Jacob Tierney, with Lyse Lafontaine, Nancy Grant and Dolan producing. It followed Mommy and Tom at the Farm and came after It's Only the End of the World in Dolan's filmography, released in the same year as Matthias & Maxime. Kit Harington plays the title character, with Jacob Tremblay and Ben Schnetzer as the younger and older Rupert Turner, Natalie Portman as Sam Turner, Susan Sarandon as Grace Donovan and Kathy Bates as Barbara Haggermaker among a credited cast of 53 and a crew of 72.

Made with a budget of 35 million US dollars across British, Canadian and American production companies, the film earned about 3 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from roughly 8,300 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.9 out of 10 from about 729 votes; a critics' rating of 3.7 out of 10 from 32 reviews places it well below the audience scores.