Lee Daniels’ ‘The Paperboy’ with Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey gets October release date

Lee Daniels’ controversial thriller, The Paperboy, has been slated for an Oct. 5 release.

According to Variety, Millennium Entertainment announced on Wednesday that they will distribute the film, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The erotic thriller was directed by Lee Daniels, who earned an Oscar nomination for his last film, 2009’s Precious.

The film is set in a Florida town in 1969, with Zac Efron starring as a young man who helps a journalist, played by Matthew McConaughey, look into the truth about a convicted killer on death row (John Cusack). During the film, Efron begins to fall for the convict’s lover, played by Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman.

As The Wrap notes, the film earned plenty of media attention at Cannes, thanks to Efron appearing in the film in several stages of undress and a scene in which Kidman urinates on the former High School Musical star. The film earned decisive reviews and has just a 50 percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

The producers for the film are Daniels, Avi Lerner, Ed Cathell III, Cassian Elwes and Hilary Shor and the executive producers include Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, John Thompson, Boaz Davidson, Mark Gill and Jan DeBont. It was penned by Pete Dexter, who wrote the novel, and Daniels.

“I'm delighted by the extraordinary audience response at Cannes to Lee Daniels’ film and we’re thrilled to release The Paperboy this fall....Lee’s unique filmmaking voice combined with this high profile cast makes for a must-see movie,” Millennium Entertainment CEO Bill Lee said in a statement.