SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 2012
TODAY AT THE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
www.ScreenDaily.com
Pierre Pierre steals deals for Foresight
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Larry Charles-Jim Carrey comedy Pierre Pierre has been given a new lease of life by Mark Damon’s Fore- sight Unlimited, Mandalay Vision and Lago Film. Foresight boarded international sales pre-market and has closed deals in Russia (West), Benelux (DFW), Scandinavia (Mis. Label), Eastern Europe (Revolu- tionary), Hong Kong (Deltamac), Middle East (Shooting Stars), Thailand (M Pictures), Latin America (Imagem and Gussi), Por- tugal (Lusomundo), Israel (United King), Iceland (Myndform), India (Tanweer) and China (HGC). UK and other deals are in negotiation. Lago’s Marco Mehlitz recently
came on board and closed a deal for German rights with Warner Bros. The pan-European shoot is set for summer 2012, with most of the production taking place in Germany. Producers are Jason Blumenthal
and Todd Black of Escape Artists, Matthew Rhodes and Cathy Schul- man of Mandalay Vision as well as Mehlitz. Rhodes is in town touting the comedy. The oft-reincarnated comedy
from writers Edwin Cannistraci and Frederick Seton was once budgeted at $20m, but now stands at $30m due to the strong supporting cast who are in talks. “The supporting characters are
real sink-your-teeth-into roles for both European and US actors,” Rhodes told Screen.
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Jennifer Aniston boards Salt’s Miss You Already
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Jennifer Aniston is attached to director Paul Andrew Williams’ comedy-drama Miss You Already, which is generating strong buzz for UK-based The Salt Company. Salt is executive-producing and
handling international sales, with Entertainment One pre-buying UK, Australia and Canada for “a large sum”. Bafta-nominated Williams is
writing the script with popular UK actress-producer-writer Mor- wenna Banks. Aniston is repped by Brillstein
Entertainment Partners and CAA, which also represent Williams and
DJ Hahn mixes with Handler
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Linkin Park DJ Joe Hahn is to make his feature debut on an adaptation of 2001 Eric Bogosian novel Mall. Vincent D’Onofrio, Chelsea Handler and Bogosian are among the cast. D’Onofrio co-wrote the script
with Joe Vinciguerra and Sam Bis- bee and is producing with The Collective’s Sam Maydew. UTA represents the fi lm, which
is partially fi nanced with private equity, while the producers are in discussions with sales companies to close fi nance.
In The Land Of Blood And Honey writer-director Angelina Jolie is flanked by actors Goran Kostic (left) and Zana Marjanovic. The Bosnian war-themed drama is playing in Berlinale Special.
Dragojevic gets prickly with Julian Barnes’ Porcupine French on Parade
BY WENDY MITCHELL Serbian director Srdjan Drago- jevic’s next project will be an adap- tation of Julian Barnes’ 1992 novel The Porcupine. The fi lm will shoot in English with an international cast. Producers will be Biljana
Prvanovic from Belgrade’s Delir- ium, and Mike Downey and Sam Taylor from the UK’s Film & Music Entertainment (F&ME) with Eva Rohrman from Slovenia’s Forum Film and Vladimir Anastasov from
Macedonia’s Sektor Film, the team behind Dragojevic’s Berlin Pano- rama title The Parade. Set in a post-communist fic-
tional country, The Porcupine is a political thriller about the trial of a former communist leader. It will shoot in the former Yugoslavia. Dragojevic and UK writer Geoff
Cox, who was script editor on John Hillcoat’s The Proposition, adapted for the screen. Dragojevic says: “Barnes’ The Porcupine examines a recent phe-
WIDE has closed a French all- rights deal on The Parade with Sophie Dulac Distribution. The distributor plans a release
by mid-December. WIDE’s Clementine Hugot noted: “It was a real coup de coeur, and all the team loved the film — they see it as a beautiful comedy about the right to be different.”
Jennifer Aniston
Banks, and are helping to package the fi lm and co-represent US rights. The film follows two lifelong
friends whose cosy friendship is wrecked when one falls pregnant and the other is sick. The shoot is set for summer 2012.
Hubert Boesl Producers are Christopher
Simon and Felix Vossen of Embargo Films, who have Berli- nale competition entry I, Anna and upcoming reboots The Sweeney and Pusher. Executive producers are Salt’s Robert Bevan, Samantha Horley, James Norrie and Cyril Megret; Barnaby Southcombe of Embargo; and Kristin Hahn. The triple-territory pre-sale was
negotiated by Norrie and Jo Sweby at Entertainment One. Williams’ Song For Marion was
picked up by The Weinstein Com- pany for US release later this year, with Entertainment One handling the UK.
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Bright spot Intandem closes deals on Generation 14plus title Comes A Bright Day. » PAGE 2
REVIEWS Hail Caesar! The Bard goes behind bars in the Taviani brothers’ Caesar Must Die. » PAGE 8
FEATURES Driving Miss Mansfield Alexander Rodnyansky on his first English-language feature. » PAGE 22
SCREENINGS » START PAGE 26
Aftershock rumbles EFM
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN FilmNation has seen a stampede of deals for Eli Roth earthquake thriller Aftershock, with deals struck for the UK (StudioCanal), France and Spain (Wild Bunch), Germany (Universum Film), CIS (Top Film), Iceland (Sam Films), Middle East (Italia Film), Turkey (Aqua), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Indonesia (PT Amero), Malaysia (Dream Movie), Philip- pines (Multivision), Singapore (Dream Movie), Taiwan (Studio Solutions Group), Thailand (M Pictures), Vietnam (Multivision) and South Africa (Ster Kinekor). US distributors are circling the
film, starring Roth and Selena Gomez. The fi lm is currently shooting in
Chile for Vertebra Films alongside Roth’s Dragonfly Entertainment and Cross Creek Pictures.
Buyers hug Teddy
nomenon in Eastern Europe — nostalgia for socialism. The script treats this nostalgia as a screen, a strategy to cover up the twin trau- mas shared by all East European societies — that of socialism and of transition. Add to this the failure of capitalism since Barnes wrote the book, and we have a very contem- porary tale of two systems.” Downey added that the story
“has a powerful contemporary resonance for a novel written 20 years ago.”
Visit Films has closed deals including for Sundance award- winning sex-tourism drama Teddy Bear to Australia and NZ (Vendetta), Czech Republic and Slovakia (CineMart), Switzerland (Monopole-Pathé) and Israel (DBS). Ballet doc First Position has sold to Japan (Cetera) and Taiwan (Joint). UK thriller Fortunate Sons has sold to Switzerland (Praesens) and the Middle East (Falcon). Wendy Mitchell
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