I Love You Phillip Morris, a 2009 film which wowed audiences at Sundance last year, is based on the real life events of con artist, impostor, and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell — oh, and it’s also a gay love story!
Based on a book by Houston Chronicle crime reporter Steve McVicker, the fact-based film casts Jim Carrey as Russell, a married father whose exploits landed him in the Texas criminal justice system.
Russell falls madly in love with his cellmate, Phillip Morris (played by Ewan McGregor), who eventually is set free, which leads Russell to escape from Texas prisons four times.
After original difficulty finding a U.S. distributor, likely due to its explicit gay sexual content, the film was re-edited. The film was for released in France in February 2010 and in the United Kingdom on March 18. It is currently scheduled for limited released in the United States on April 30, 2010.
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The film was adapted from I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks by McVicker.
Here’s the new 2010 trailer:
And, here’s the international trailer from 2009:
