FEATURE FOCUS n BERLINBUZZ nRUSSIAN CO-PRODUCTIONS
ing the plot details under wraps. Also on the slate is the action project Everly. Set in one room, Kate Hudson stars as a woman who must repel wave after wave of attacks from assassins dis- patched by her ex-husband. Crime Scene Pic- tures is financing and produces alongside Anonymous Content. FilmNation will be selling Side Effects, to be
directed by Steven Soderbergh. Open Road will release the thriller in 2013, and Endgame and 1984 Private Defense Contractors are financing and producing. Plot details remain under wraps. Production is scheduled to commence in April and the producers are in discussions with Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones to star. Content arrives with a promo of The Numbers
Station, starring John Cusack as a disgraced black-ops agent assigned to protect a code oper- ator. Furst Films’ Sean Furst and Bryan Furst are producing alongside Nigel Thomas of Mata- dor Pictures. The slate includes Sundance hit The Pact, about a woman who returns to her spooky family home for her mother’s funeral. IFC Films acquired US rights during Sundance. Exclusive arrives with Can A Song Save Your Life
Market forces
As Berlin’s European Film Market kicks off, Screen looks at the hottest market debuts — at all stages of production — being offered by US, UK and European sellers
US SELLERS
Summit International will unveil The Tomb from Emmett/Furla Films and Mark Canton. The action project unites Arnold Schwarzeneg- ger and Sylvester Stallone, and is being di- rected by Mikael Hafstrom. Stallone plays a security expert trapped inside a prison who must enlist the help of a secretive in- mate played by Schwarzenegger. The other marquee title is Alcon Entertainment’s Beautiful Creatures, which Richard LaGravenese will direct from his own adaptation of the Gothic trilogy about young lovers who uncover se- crets about their town. Oscar nominee Viola Davis is attached and Warner Bros will re- lease in the US. Focus Features International will introduce buy-
ers to its untitled thriller to star Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall. Focus and Working Title will begin production in April in the UK on the story
n 24 Screen International at the Berlinale February 9, 2012
of two former lovers who must work together on the defence team at a terrorism trial. John Crowley (Boy A) directs from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Steven Knight. Stuart Ford’s IM Global will commence sales
on The Happytime Murders, an R-rated puppet saga to be directed by Brian Henson from a script by Todd Berger. The action takes place in a world where puppets co-exist with humans but are regarded as second-class citizens. When the puppet cast of a 1980s show die off one by one, a disgraced puppet detective has a shot at redemption. Katherine Heigl is in talks to star. IM Global also has Plush, an erotic thriller starring Evan Rachel Wood to be directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Sierra/Affinity will be talking up Wer, from the
film-making team behind the recent surprise US hit The Devil Inside. Production is set to start in April in Romania, and director William Brent Bell and co-writer Matthew Peterman are keep-
from Once writer-director John Carney to star Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo. Exclusive Media is producing and Judd Apatow serves as executive producer on the story of a musically gifted couple who undergo great changes when they are invited to record an album in New York. Alex Walton and his team will be showing footage in Berlin. The slate includes fresh Sun- dance pick-up Robot & Frank, Jake Schreier’s fes- tival favourite that stars Frank Langella as an elderly thief with a robotic caretaker. Samuel Goldwyn and SPWA will release in North America and SPWA holds rights in Latin Amer- ica, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe including Russia. Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel’s new financ-
ing and sales company The Solution Entertainment Group comes to its maiden EFM with Writers, produced by Informant Media and Judy Cairo and set to start production in the spring. Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly star in the story about a year in the life of a novelist and his rela- tionships. Peter Chelsom will direct Hector And The Search For Happiness, about a young psychia- trist’s global quest for contentment. Egoli Tossell Film and Wild Bunch Germany are pro- ducing the German-South African project. Voltage Pictures will be tempting buyers with
Top left, by row: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Hardwicke, Steven Soderbergh, John Cusack, Viola Davis, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Shia LaBeouf, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo, Evan Rachel Wood, Xzibit
Code Name Geronimo, which started shooting on February 1 and recounts the Navy SEALS mis- sion to kill Osama Bin Laden. John Stockwell directs and the project stars Cam Gigandet, Wil- liam Fichtner and Xzibit. The slate includes action comedy The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman, scheduled to begin shooting on April 23. Shia LaBeouf plays a man who woos the girlfriend of a crime lord. Hyde Park Entertainment brings in-competition
title Jayne Mansfield’s Car, directed by and star- ring Billy Bob Thornton with Kevin Bacon, John Hurt, Ray Stevenson and Frances O’Connor. Also on the slate is Sundance hit Liberal Arts from Josh Radnor, who stars in the romance with
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