WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 2010
TODAY
Vallanzasca
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AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
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Zenovich, FD in Polanski redux
Anne Hathaway Jim Sturgess
Hathaway, Sturgess seize Day with Focus
BY MIKE GOODRIDGE
Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess will star in One Day, Lone Scher- fig’s first film after An Education, which is being backed by Focus Features and sold by Focus Fea- tures International. The romance is based on the
bestseller by David Nicholls, who has also written the script. Former Disney studio chief Nina Jacobson is producing through Color Force. The film was first optioned and developed by Focus and Random House Films in association with Film4. Hathaway, most recently seen as
the White Queen in Tim Burton’s
Alice In Wonderland, and Sturgess,
who was in Peter Weir’s The Way Back, will play two students who meet on July 15, 1988, on the night of their graduation. She is a work- ing class girl of principle and ambi- tion; he is a wealthy charmer. The two become fast friends and the story follows them every July 15 over the next 20 years as their lives encompass love, loss, heartbreak and success, hopes fulfilled and dreams shattered.
BY NANCY TARTAGLIONE
Films Distribution will handle international sales (outside the US) on Marina Zenovich’s follow- up to her hot-button Roman Polanski documentary, Roman
Polanski: Wanted And Desired.
Zenovich had been working on
a short to follow up the 2008 fi lm but the scope of the project has expanded following Polanski’s arrest in September 2009. Film Distribution’s Nicolas
Brigaud-Robert says what was once a documentary has become “a drama unfolding before us”. Zenovich has filmed and con- ducted interviews in Germany,
“When he got arrested, the
Marina Zenovich
Switzerland, France and the US
and is editing as she shoots in an effort to have the fi lm ready once Polanski’s fate is decided.
Zenovich remains neutral in the
treatment of her subject but does say it has been “shocking” to see “the fundamental differences of opinion on the legal side and in the blogosphere”.
Berney: unfair Game?
Cannes Competition title Fair Game appears to be the chief reason for Bob Berney’s abrupt departure from Apparition, the company he co-founded with Bill Pohlad. Doug Liman’s Valerie Plame
drama was never necessarily going to be an Apparition release, and Pohlad’s production company River Road Entertainment said it planned to secure a hefty MG and wide release commitment from any prospective buyers. But when Summit Entertainment
bought the film last month in a deal closed by CAA for River Road and co-financier Participant Media, the
terms of the deal were apparently not as rich as expected. Summit did not furnish a huge MG and will likely release Fair Game on a platform basis — Berney’s specialty. Berney is thought to have been
surprised by the Summit/Fair Game deal which was presented to him as a fait accompli. River Road, which is run by Mitch
Horwits for Pohlad, has a close relationship with Summit which handled international sales on Fair Game. River Road was also known to be disappointed by Apparition’s release of its production The Runaways, the rock ’n roll biopic
movie suddenly became a geopo- litical thriller in the sense that it involves Switzerland, the US, France and Poland,” she told Screen. “I’m chronicling what’s happened piece by piece and I want to see the story to the end. By default, I’ve become part of the story, but I’m just trying to fi nd the truth in all of this.” Polanski had agreed to be inter-
viewed for the follow-up project before his arrest; Zenovich has not been in direct touch with him since then but says she hopes to talk to him once the situation is resolved.
which has grossed just $3.5m after two months on release in the US. Nor was it easy for Berney and
his staff to operate on a reduced budget after Pohlad, with the help of CAA, was unable to raise additional funding to finance the p&a activity of the new company. The venture had been restructured with a lower risk profile in light of the disappointment of Apparition’s first release, Bright Star, and the failure to raise further funding. Berney is attending Cannes this
week, while plans for the future of Apparition are as yet unclear. “I have no comment at this time
and wish Bill Pohlad much success,” said Berney yesterday.
Mike Goodridge
Gosling takes Drive with Affinity Graham flies with 3D Chopin pic
BY JEREMY KAY
Affinity International sales head Brian O’Shea is announcing Nico- las Winding Refn’s action thriller Drive, starring Ryan Gosling. Marc Platt will produce with
Gigi Pritzker of Odd Lot and Michel Litvak of Bold, marking the fi rst time the two companies will co-produce and co-finance a project since launching Affi nity in late 2009. Platt Productions president
Adam Siegel is also producing; David Lancaster, Gary Michael Wal- ters, Bill Lischak and Linda McDonough will executive produce.
Ryan Gosling
Gosling will play a loner stunt-
man who moonlights as a getaway driver. Hossein Amini wrote the screenplay based on the James Sal- lis crime novel. WME Global chief Graham Tay-
lor and Alexis Garcia brokered the deal and will handle North Ameri- can sales.
BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Heather Graham has joined Chi- nese pianist Lang Lang in the cast of 3D family adventure The Flying Machine, produced by Oscar-win- ning Polish animation studio
Breakthru Films (Peter And The Wolf).
Beijing-based Bona Interna-
tional Film Group has also boarded the project as co-producer along- side Breakthru and other Euro- pean producers. Exclusive Film Distribution is handling interna- tional sales in Western territories, while Hong Kong-based Distribu- tion Workshop is handling Asia.
A combination of 3D live action
and stop-motion animation, the fi lm is being made to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin. Breakthru’s Martin Clapp and
Geoff Lindsay are co-directing the film, with Breakthru creative principle Hugh Welchman as pro- ducer. Co-producers on the film also
include the Polish Film Institute, Polish broadcaster TVP, Canal Plus (Poland), Norway’s Storm Studio and France’s Denis Friedman Pro- duction. The production is also supported by Lodz City Council.
IM GLOBAL FILLS WITH DREDD
Reliance BIG Pictures and IM Global will finance DNA’s 3D production of Judge Dredd, a $45m revival of the 2000AD comic-book character. Filming is set to take place in Johannesburg in the fourth quarter based on a script by Alex Garland, who will produce with Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich. Pete Travis will direct. IM Global CEO Stuart Ford will commence sales here.
NEWS
Fortissimo signs Fox deal
Fortissimo Films has signed a groundbreaking deal with Fox’s local-language production arm, Fox International Productions, to include films such as Vallanzasca
» PAGE 2
Penn’s pal
Sean Penn joins Il Divo director Paolo Sorrentino’s English- language debut
» PAGE 4
REVIEW
Hit or myth?
Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood is solid if uninspiring
» PAGE 17
SCREENINGS
What to see today
» START PAGE 42
StudioCanal has UK Awakening
BY MIKE GOODRIDGE
Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton are set to star in supernatural thriller The Awaken- ing, the feature directorial debut of UK TV director Nick Murphy. Shooting will begin in June. David Thompson, whose Origin
Pictures developed the project at BBC Films, is producing. Studio- Canal Features will be lead fi nan- cier alongside BBC Films and Scottish Screen. StudioCanal is launching sales here. BBC Films’ Joe Oppenheimer is
executive producing alongside Will Clarke and Jenny Borgars of Studio- Canal’s UK distribution and pro- duction arm Optimum Releasing. Set in England in 1921, the fi lm
follows a sceptical woman who travels to a boarding school to investigate a haunting.
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