THURSDAY, MAY 12 2011
TODAY MUBI’s Hengameh Panahi and Efe Cakarel
www.ScreenDaily.com
Foxfire sparks for Memento
BY NANCY TARTAGLIONE Memento Films International has sold Laurent Cantet’s English-lan- guage debut Foxfire to the UK (Artifi cial Eye), Spain (Golem) and the Middle East (Shooting Stars). Co-producer The Film Farm sealed a deal with Alliance for Canada. Palme d’Or winner Cantet starts
principal photography this summer in Canada on his sixth feature. The story, adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’ book, follows teenage girls in the 1950s who form a secret society. In Cannes, Memento is repre-
senting Naomi Kawase’s Competi- tion fi lm Hanezu, as well as three Directors’ Fortnight titles includ- ing Bouli Lanners’ The Giants. Further, Memento has added Nicholas Shumaker to its team.
Fortissimo sells Grandmasters
BY LIZ SHACKLETON Fortissimo Films has sold Wong Kar Wai’s hotly anticipated martial arts epic The Grandmasters to Gaga Corporation for Japan. Fortissimo is handling select ter-
ritories retained by Wong’s Jet Tone Films, including Japan, Korea and India, while Fortissimo chairman Michael J Werner is serving as associate producer and consultant. Fortissimo executive VP, sales
and acquisitions Winnie Lau bro- kered the deal with Gaga chair man Tom Yoda and operating offi cer for acquisitions Satomi Odake. Yoda said: “We are very confi-
dent we can push a new frontier for Chinese fi lms in the Japanese market with this title.” Wong recently wrapped princi-
pal photography in China on the $25m fi lm, which stars Tony Leung.
Léa Seydoux, Woody Allen and Owen Wilson on the red carpet for last night’s opening film Midnight In Paris. See review, p20
Editorial (33) 4 97 06 85 35
AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL Advertising (33) 4 97 06 85 37
FilmDistrict Plays The Field with Butler, Biel rom-com
BY JEREMY KAY Riding high on the success of its inaugural releases, FilmDistrict has picked up US rights from Nu Image/Millennium Films to Gabriele Muccino’s rom-com Playing The Field, starring Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel. Shooting is underway in Louisi-
ana for a spring 2012 release. Butler plays a broke playboy footballer who tries to reconnect with his estranged wife and coaches his son’s team (attracting the attentions of soccer moms). Uma Thurman, Judy Greer, Dennis Quaid and Cath- erine Zeta-Jones round out the cast. Butler and Alan Siegel’s Evil Twin Productions is producing in
Playing The Field
association with Kevin Misher, Jonathan Mostow, Heidi Jo Markel and John Thompson from a screen- play by Robbie Fox. Nu Image/Mil- lennium Films’ Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short and Avi Lerner serve as executive producers. FilmDistrict launched last year
under the auspices of Graham King and Tim Headington’s GK Films in partnership with Peter
Schlessel. Bob Berney is head of theatrical distribution and the company’s fi rst two releases, Insid- ious and Soul Surfer, have pros- pered, together grossing close to $90m in the US. Schlessel said: “This is as good
an independent movie as you can find. This movie is the perfect example of how we will continue to evolve from an acquisitions point of view as we scour the market for widely appealing com- mercial product. “Our fi rst two fi lms were really
well received by the public and that’s what we’re looking for. When you have some track record, that helps.”
WESTEND TAKES A BITE: UK sales outfit WestEnd Films has taken on Love Bite, a teen horror-comedy to be directed by Bafta-winner Andy de Emmony (West Is West). Love Bite starts shooting in September in Wales and is produced by Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae and Paul Ritchie of Ecosse Films. WestEnd is financing the film and handling worldwide sales. Geoffrey Macnab
Wild Bunch heats up sales for Eva, Lay The Favorite
BY NANCY TARTAGLIONE Right out of the starting gate, Wild Bunch has closed deals on a bevy of its titles. The Weinstein Company has
acquired all English-speaking terri- tories to Eva. Set in 2041, Kike Mail- lo’s film follows a cyber-engineer who tries to create a child android. Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share has sold to the UK (eOne) and
France (Le Pacte). Roman Polan- ski’s Carnage has been acquired by Optimum in the UK. Meanwhile, Wild Bunch has
sold Stephen Frears’ Lay The Favorite to Canada (Alliance), Aus- tralia (Village Roadshow) and Wild Bunch (France and Italy). Monica Bellucci-Robert De Niro
love story The Ages Of Love has gone to Spain (Alta). Germany’s
Optimum in gear with Vehicle 19
Colin Firth and Emily Blunt will star in an untitled dark comedy which Focus Features International is introducing to buyers. See
ScreenDaily.com
K5 International has sold Vehicle 19, starring Paul Walker, to Optimum Releasing for the UK and Kinowelt for Germany (both arms of StudioCanal), just days after coming
on board as international sales agent for Mukunda Michael Dewil’s film. Vehicle 19 has also gone to Falcon in the Middle East. K5 acquired all international
Telepool took The Moth Diaries. Wild Bunch France will distribute James Marsh’s Shadow Dancer. Nicolas Winding Refn’s upcoming Only God Forgives was picked up by Wild Side in France, which also took Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s I Wish. Finally, Japan’s Comstock took
Wild Bunch titles The Squad, Philippe Garrel’s That Summer and The Citadel: Burnt By The Sun 3.
rights to the film excluding the US from producer Peter Safran and Ryan Haidarian, former head of production and development at the National Film and Video Foundation, which is producing the action thriller. Geoffrey Macnab
NEWS In demand On-demand platform MUBI strikes key deals with Hopscotch, Sony » PAGE 6
DIARY Talking About Kevin Lynne Ramsay finds her ‘young James Dean’ » PAGE 18
REVIEW Midnight In Paris Woody Allen delivers a breezy love letter from Paris » PAGE 20
SCREENINGS » START PAGE 53
Elle Driver goes from royalty to grindhouse
BY NANCY TARTAGLIONE Cutting-edge French sales/fi nance outfit Elle Driver has boosted its slate with several new titles. Benoit Jacquot’s Marie Antoi-
nette project Farewell, My Queen will star the sexy triumvirate of Diane Kruger, Léa Seydoux and Virginie Ledoyen. The historical drama starts shooting this month, and Ad Vitam has French rights. The company is also handling
Skinny Dip, a grindhouse action fi lm from Frankie Latina and star- ring Sasha Grey, Danny Trejo, Pam Grier and Brigitte Nielsen. The company has a promo reel
for Eran Riklis’ Playoff, starring Danny Huston as Israeli basketball coach Max Stoller. A promo is also available for Hut In The Woods by The Edukators director Hans Wein- gartner — a drama about two mis- fi t boys who try to create a new life. Elle Driver is also selling
Emanuele Crialese’s Terraferma. Omar Killed Me, the second fea-
ture from Roschdy Zem, is about a wrongly imprisoned man in Mar- seille, starring Sami Bouajila and Denis Podalydes. Guilherme de Avila and Jose de
Abreu star in Marcos Bernstein’s Brazilian drama My Sweet Orange Tree about a young boy with an active imagination. Dutch comedy New Kids Turbo,
already a smash in its home coun- try and in Germany, is a comedy about unemployed guys who become famous on TV. Also on Elle Driver’s slate are
Bunker (co-sold with Fox), Love The Boat, Tudor Giurgiu’s Of Snails And Men and Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria.
DAY 2
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