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'Worth', Michael Keaton Movie About 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, Heads To Netflix This September

worth release date
By Chris Evangelista

Worth, a film about Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer who oversaw the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, is headed to Netflix this September – a month which will mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Michael Keaton plays Feinberg in the movie, which comes from director Sara Colangelo and writer Max Borenstein. Amy Ryan, Stanley Tucci, Tate Donovan, Shunori Ramanathan, Talia Balsam, and Laura Benanti also star in Worth, which had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Netflix announced that Worth is headed to the streaming service this September, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The film tells the true story of Kenneth Feinberg, who was appointed to lead the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Here's a synopsis:

Following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Congress appoints attorney Kenneth Feinberg (Michael Keaton) to lead the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. But how can he put a value on the lives lost? Caught between lawyers looking to sue and airline lobbies anxious to settle, Feinberg must broker a deal with the victims' families. When he locks horns with Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), a community organizer whose wife died in the towers, Feinberg begins to learn the human costs of the tragedy.

The Sundance write-up for the title adds that "Worth takes a hard look at the political machinations behind the fund and examines the cold calculus used to assign a value to the victims." Our own Ben Pearson caught Worth at Sundance in 2020, and wrote:

Make no mistake: this movie is not an easy watch. There's real footage from 9/11 and testimonies from both real survivors and actors playing family members of victims that will rip your heart out all over again. But though it grapples with tough subject matter, this boots-on-the-ground, process-driven film is ultimately a rewarding experience thanks to its smart script and great performances from its leads.

It's hard to believe the 9/11 attacks were 20 years ago, and it's going to be interesting to see how Worth plays with a wider audience via Netflix. "I thought it was a really compelling subject matter, an aspect of 9/11 that I had never heard of, and as I started to delve into it, I became more interested in it," director Sara Colangelo said when interviewed during Sundance. "There's something really interesting about the math of it all, the kind of computing of numbers and putting dollars and cents to a person's life, colliding with heartbreak, and the human drama of 9/11. That tension was really interesting to me."

Netflix hasn't announced an official date just yet, but September 11 is a Saturday this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to drop it on Friday, September 10. That's just a guess, though.

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