NEWS Foresight scoops


Rule #1, 2 Guns BY WENDYMITCHELL Foresight Unlimited has added two new Emmett/Furla produc- tions to its slate: Courtney Hunt’s romantic comedy Rule #1, star- ring Reese Witherspoon, and Baltasar Kormakur’s action com- edy 2 Guns, starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. Brian O’Shea of The Exchange will be helping to sell the projects here at EFM. Randall Emmett and George


Furla are producing Rule #1 with Brad Epstein of Panther and Witherspoon, through her Type A Films. 2 Guns is being financed with


Universal, which will release in the US, and starts shooting on June 1. Producers are Emmett, Furla and Marc Platt. Envision Entertainment is executive producing both.


SHOOTING STARS IN PROFILE: EFP’S CLASS OF 2012


Bankside takes on Armstrong, Asante


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN UK sales outfit Bankside Films has added two hot projects to its EFM slate: Gillian Armstrong’s comedy The Great starring Annette Bening, and period drama Belle from writer-director Amma Asante and The Iron Lady producer Damian Jones. The Great is inspired by the life


of 18th-century Russian empress Catherine the Great. Marian Macgowan of Macgowan Films


Content adds up Numbers Station


BY WENDYMITCHELL Content is showing the first promo of action thriller The Num- bers Station to buyers in Berlin. The film, starring John Cusack


Hilmar Gudjonsson Iceland (Either Way)


Who are your acting inspirations, past or present? I am a big fan of Kate Winslet. Her way of approaching a character is something special and difficult to copy. But then for my characters, I try to catch things and elements from people around me. With which director would you most like to work? I really enjoy Mike Leigh’s work and would love to try his methods. My 2011 favourite was We Need To Talk About Kevin, directed by Lynne Ramsay, who is a unique type of director. What are you shooting now/doing next? I am Alexander in Fanny And Alexander on stage at Reykjavik’s City Theatre. Coming up, I’ll play Ken in the Pulitzer and Tony-winning play Red by John Logan at the same theatre. Any fun plans while you are in Berlin? I’m simply going to enjoy every moment of my stay.


and Malin Akerman, has already sold to Germany, Austria and Swit- zerland (Wild Bunch), Scandina- via (Svensk), Greece (Spentzos), Iceland (Sena), ex-Yugoslavia, Romania, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria (GrandView Castle), China (HGC Entertainment), CIS and the Baltic states (MGN Paradise), Indonesia (Queen Imperial), Israel (Five Stars Distribution), Latin America (Swen), Middle East (Gulf), Portu- gal (Lusomundo), South Africa


The Numbers Station


(Videovision), Thailand and Viet- nam (IPA Asia), Turkey (Orbit), pay-TV in Southeast Asia (HBO) and planes and ships (Jaguar). Kasper Barfoed directs from F


Scott Frazier’s script. The cast also features Liam Cunningham, Bryan Dick and Joey Ansah. Furst Films’ Sean and Bryan


Furst produce with Matador Pic- tures’ Nigel Thomas.


Lotte back to school with Happy End director Jung


BYLIZSHACKLETON Korean financing and distribu- tion powerhouse Lotte Entertain- ment is launching Eungyo (working title), the latest film from Happy End director Jung Ji- woo, at the EFM. The film, which is in post-pro-


duction, is based on Park Bum- sin’s bestselling novel, also entitled Eungyo. The story follows a 70-year-old poet who has an affair with a high-school student and is inspired to write a book about her. But his star student, who is jealous of the relationship, steals his literary work. Park Hae-il, whose credits


include War Of The Arrows and The Host, plays the poet, and Kim Moo- yeol and Kim Ko-eun also star.


n 4 Screen International at the Berlinale February 9, 2012 Happy End, a noir drama star-


ring Choi Min-sik, screened in Critics’ Week at Cannes in 2000. Jung’s credits include 2005 romantic drama Blossom Again. Lotte is also introducing


romantic drama Architecture 101, starring Suzy from Korean girl band Miss A, and two dramas starring popular Korean actress Ko Ara — Pacemaker, about a marathon runner, and Papa, about a Korean talent agent who has to take custody of six chil- dren. The company, which is also


one of Korea’s biggest exhibitors, has been ramping up its interna- tional sales activities and added former Sidus FNH executive Park Juyoung to its team.


Cusack plays a disgraced black-


ops agent who takes a job protect- ing a code operator (Akerman) who works at a secret CIA broad- cast station. Content’s Jamie Carmichael


said: “We have had an explosive start to sales.” The company’s EFM slate also includes The Pact, The Day and Slasher Films’ Noth- ing To Fear.


Richard Ayoade


and Marco Mehlitz of Lago Film produce from a screenplay by Tony McNamara. The shoot is scheduled to begin


in September. Icon has picked up rights for Australia and New Zea- land. Set in 1790, Belle is inspired by


the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat, who was the first mixed-race woman to appear in 18th-century London high society.


Writer-director Asante (A Way Of Life) is currently casting, with pro- duction scheduled to begin in July. Bankside’s EFM slate also


includes Mat Whitecross’ Spike Island about a group of friends going to a Stone Roses gig, which commences principal photogra- phy on March 5 and has recent cast additions including Lesley Manville, and Istvan Szabo’s drama The Door starring Helen Mirren and Martina Gedeck.


HanWay enters The Darkness


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN HanWay Films has picked up international rights to The Last Exorci sm director Daniel Stamm’s thriller The Darkness, starring Mary Elizabeth Win- stead (The Thing, Smashed). HanWay will also co-handle US rights with CAA. Megan Holley (Sunshine


Cleaning) has scripted and pro- ducers are Joe Neurauter of Occu- pant Entertainment, and Felipe Marino and Ben Forkner of Man- agement 360. The Darkness, loosely based on


Henry James’ The Turn Of The Screw, follows a young US student working in an English manor house that may be haunted. XYZ Films (The Raid) will executive produce the thriller, which will shoot in Europe this summer. “The timing is perfect to bring


this haunting thriller to the market- place,” said HanWay managing director Thorsten Schumacher.


Daisy’s Nam tastes Money


BY JEANNOH South Korea’s Daisy Entertain- ment has brought in Erica Nam, formerly of Mirovision, as a direc- tor for its nascent international sales division. Best known as a buyer with its


increasingly noticeable distribu- tion arm Cinergy in Korea’s top 10 charts, Daisy Entertainment’s new sales team is launching its first market booth here at the European Film Market. The company’s slate is head-


StudioCanal


lined by Im Sang-soo’s The Taste Of Money, which is in post-pro- duction. The film stars veteran actress Youn Yuh-jung from The Housemaid with young heart- throb Kim Kang-woo (Hahaha), Baek Yun-shik (The President’s Last Bang) and Kim Hyo-jin (Life Is Peachy). The tale of an affluent family


sees Double StudioCanal has struck a UK/ Ireland deal with Protagonist Pictures for Richard Ayoade’s comedy The Double. Film4 has UK terrestrial TV rights. Shooting for the project, about a man and his doppelganger, will begin in May, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska. StudioCanal also released Ayoade’s feature debut, Submarine.


and its satellites conflicted by lust for sex, money and power is said to go beyond the provocative bounds of Im’s Cannes 2010 Competition entry The House- maid. Daisy Entertainment’s EFM


slate also includes Kim Yong- han’s thriller Don’t Cry Mommy, which is in post-production, and the omnibus project Horror Sto- ries (working title) from directors Kim Sun and Kim Gok, Jung Bum-shik, Lim Dae-woong and Hong Ji-young.


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