The Land of Steady Habits, based on the novel by Ted Thompson, is now available in theaters and streaming on Netflix. Directed and written by Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), the film stars Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, Thomas Mann, Connie Britton, Bill Camp and Charlie Tahan.
Holofcener told Entertainment Weekly that the novel attracted her because of its treatment of complex issues of kinship contrasted with an otherwise upbeat setting: "It's like a reminder to call your parents. A reminder to call your children, big time... I think the movie is about middle age and parenting and how hard it is to be a parent when you're a seriously damaged adult. I think it's really emotional and also funny and very human, and you follow the path of this troubled man trying to do things well and he does them very badly and hurts a lot of people in the end. I was drawn to the novel [because] this was so not my world, yet it was people that I could relate to, that and what the story was about really resonated with me."