‘Tangles’ Trailer Previews Rogen-Produced Alzheimer’s Adaptation

By Elena Vasquez

Variety reported that “Tangles,” an animated feature produced by Seth Rogen, will be released next month for a qualifying theatrical run, after a 10-year development. Independent Film Company, formerly branded IFC, and Sapan Studio have joined the project.

What does the new trailer show?

Variety described the film’s expressive, predominantly black-and-white animation. The story follows a family through early-onset Alzheimer’s, tracing parent-child bonds, identities formed away from home, and the humor and resilience that remain as memory begins to slip. Variety called the film poignant and unexpectedly funny.

Variety reported that Leah Nelson, Trev Renney and Sarah Leavitt adapted Leavitt’s acclaimed graphic memoir, “Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me.” The voice cast listed by Variety includes:

• Abbi Jacobson
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Bryan Cranston
• Beanie Feldstein
• Seth Rogen
• Samira Wiley

The trailer centers early-onset Alzheimer’s within a family story and renders it in stark black-and-white drawings.

What took 10 years to adapt?

Speaking after a screening at the Middleburg Film Festival, Nelson described the 10-year journey she took with Variety to make “Tangles.”

She said: “It was a tricky piece of content to translate into a script and into something linear. Sarah’s book is based on her memories, and a lot of it came together through little notes, snippets and drawings that she had made.”

Nelson also described the adaptation as challenging. She said the team gave the project substantial support. The 10-year adaptation turned fragmentary notes, snippets and drawings into a linear script.

How does the story reach the producers?

Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen, both producers, joined Nelson on the festival panel. They began dating more than two decades ago. Miller Rogen said her mother, Adele, showed the first signs of the illness she would suffer from for the final 16 years of her life.

Miller Rogen spoke about receiving the script and feeling a connection to it. She said her mother was diagnosed in her early 50s and worked as a teacher. Her father became a devoted caregiver. She called the experience universal.

Miller Rogen’s family history gives the project a direct personal stake.

Why use black and white?

Miller Rogen said the stark black-and-white style created room for the disease’s complexity, balancing simple drawings on the surface with large emotional moments underneath, and she considered that balance special.

Rogen said: “I’ve personally been drawn to the challenge of taking something like this and finding ways to extract humor from it and beauty, poignancy and resonance in ways other than it just being sad.”

He called “Tangles” a truly interesting creative endeavor. Rogen said audiences might laugh during very sad moments. He connected that response to living through a similar experience himself, describing the film as sadness and joy swirling together in unexpected ways.

The film aims to hold laughter and sorrow in the same frame.

Who produced “Tangles”?

Variety’s credits name 4 production companies and 16 producers, with Leah Nelson and both Rogens among the 16 names and Julia Louis-Dreyfus also listed individually as a producer. Variety listed the line-up by company:

• Vicky Patel, Steve Barnett and Alan Powell — Monarch Media.
• Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee and Madeline Blair — Point Grey Pictures.
• Ross Murray, Teresa Toews, Jay Grandin and Leah Nelson — Giant Ant.
• Lauren Miller Rogen, Jen W. Ray and Sophie Hoegh — LYLAS Pictures.
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The credits combine four production banners with 16 named producers.

What comes next?

According to Variety, the next milestone is next month’s qualifying theatrical run, after a 10-year development and a script shaped by Lauren Miller Rogen’s family experience with early-onset Alzheimer’s.