Oh Canada: cast, plot and everything we know about the Jacob Elordi movie

Jacob Elordi in Oh Canada
Jacob Elordi in Oh Canada (Image credit: Cannes)

Already a key creative behind some of the most memorable movies ever made, Paul Schrader continues to bring his unique perspective to moviegoers with an expected new entry to the 2024 new movie slate, Oh Canada. Schrader alone makes it a project to watch, but add in young star Jacob Elordi and Hollywood staple Richard Gere as younger and older versions of the same character, and there's a lot to be intrigued by with the movie.

Schrader has kept himself busy in recent years with three highly regarded efforts in First Reformed, The Card Counter and Master Gardener, all of which he wrote and directed. Can he keep up his hot streak with Oh Canada?

We'll have to wait a bit to find out, but here is what we know about the movie right now.

Oh Canada release date

Oh Canada does not have an official release date for general audiences at this time. However, we know that the movie is going to make its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, which takes place between May 14-25.

Oh Canada just one of many high profile movies set to screen at Cannes. Joining it in France is Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the latest Emma Stone/Yorgos Lanthimos collaboration Kinds of Kindness and others.

Oh Canada cast

Schrader is reuniting with one of his former stars for Oh Canada, Richard Gere. The two previously worked together in the movie American Gigolo. In this new movie, Gere is playing the older version of the main character, Leonard Fife. Gere is also known for his roles in Chicago, An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman and more.

Playing the younger version of Leonard Fife is Jacob Elordi. The young star has been on a meteoric rise, starting with the popular Netflix franchise The Kissing Booth. He's also appeared in Euphoria, and most recently, Saltburn and Priscilla.

Also in the cast are Uma Thurman (Red, White & Royal Blue), Michael Imperioli (The White Lotus season 2) and Kristine Froseth (The Buccaneers).

Oh Canada plot

An official synopsis for the movie has not been shared at this time, but here is the description of its source material, Forgone:

"At the center of Foregone is famed Canadian American leftist documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife, one of sixty thousand draft evaders and deserters who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam. Fife, now in his late seventies, is dying of cancer in Montreal and has agreed to a final interview in which he is determined to bare all his secrets at last, to demythologize his mythologized life. The interview is filmed by his acolyte and ex–star student, Malcolm MacLeod, in the presence of Fife's wife and alongside Malcolm's producer, cinematographer and sound technician, all of whom have long admired Fife but who must now absorb the meaning of his astonishing, dark confession."

Oh Canada trailer

There is no trailer for Oh Canada at this time. When one becomes available we'll add it here. 

Paul Schrader movies

Paul Schrader has directed 23 movies in his career, many of which he also wrote (though his most famous script is arguably still Taxi Driver). Here is a complete look at his directing credits to date: 

  • Blue Collar (1978)
  • Hardcore (1979)
  • American Gigolo (1980)
  • Cat People (1982)
  • Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
  • Light of Day (1987)
  • Patty Hearst (1988)
  • The Comfort of Strangers (1990)
  • Light Sleeper (1992)
  • Touch (1997)
  • Affliction (1997)
  • Forever Mine (1999)
  • Auto Focus (2002)
  • Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
  • The Walker (2007)
  • Adam Resurrected (2008)
  • The Canyons (2013)
  • Dying of the Light (2014)
  • Dog Eat Dog (2016)
  • First Reformed (2017)
  • Dark (2017)
  • The Card Counter (2021)
  • Master Gardener (2023)
Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.