Jessica Lange Plays Broadway Actor Battling Confidence Issues in New Film The Great Lillian Hall

Mother Play Tony nominee Jessica Lange headlines the new film The Great Lillian Hall, premiering Friday, May 31 at 8pm ET/PT on HBO.

Written by Elisabeth Seldes Annacone and directed by Michael Cristofer, the film follows a beloved Broadway star — Lange’s Lillian Hall — as she battles confidence issues and forgetfulness on the way to opening night of a new production of The Cherry Orchard.

Starring alongside Lange are Oscar winner Kathy Bates, Lily Rabe, Jesse Williams, and Pierce Brosnan.

Announced under the title Places, Please in 2021, the film was originally intended as a vehicle for Meryl Streep. Screenwriter Annacone is the niece of the late theater legend Marian Seldes, a performer who set a Guinness World Record for not missing a single performance during the four-year, 1799-show run of Ira Levin’s Deathtrap.