Lakeshore Entertainment is hoping to entice buyers at this year's AFM with Game, an action thriller from Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Now in production, it stars Gerard Butler as a death-row inmate who becomes the cult hero of an online game. Lakeshore will also introduce United Artists' Vietnam project Pinkville, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Bruce Willis.
Very different in tone is The Weinstein Company's (TWC) drama The Reader starring Nicole Kidman, Ralph Fiennes and David Kross. Stephen Daldry is now shooting the story of a wartime love affair between a teenage boy and an older woman in Berlin and New York. Mirage Enterprises is producing with Scott Rudin. TWC is also starting sales on The Great Debaters, directed by and starring Denzel Washington as an inspiring high school debate coach. Oprah Winfrey is producing and MGM has secured a US release date of December 25.
Mandate International, the new sales entity that emerged from Lionsgate's acquisition of Mandate Pictures, has an impressive slate including Relativity Media's English-language remake of Susanne Bier's Danish drama Brothers.
Jim Sheridan directs Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire as siblings torn apart when one is sent to fight in Afghanistan. Natalie Portman also stars. All rights are available excluding North America, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Mandate's roster also includes Gold Circle Films' romantic comedy Chilled In Miami, starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. Denmark's Jonas Elmer directs. All rights are available except the UK, where Lionsgate is releasing.
Hyde Park International's key new title is the live-action-CGI family drama Vanilla Gorilla, based on the true story of a 12-year-old girl's friendship with an albino ape. Casting is underway for the female lead in time for a January 2008 shoot in South Africa.
IM Global is selling true-life drama The Prodigy, starring Richard Gere as the pushy father of a boy genius, while Essential Entertainment is bringing Amelia, Phillip Noyce's biography of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, starring Hilary Swank. Essential's slate also includes Escobar, a drama about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar that Oliver Stone will produce and Antoine Fuqua is set to direct.
Voltage Pictures, which scored a hit at Toronto with George A Romero's Diary Of The Dead, is starting pre-sales on the sequel. Production is set to begin in March 2008.
Kimmel International is selling the romantic comedy Management, in which Jennifer Aniston plays an uptight travelling saleswoman. QED International has boarded Walled In, the first production from Leomax Entertainment. Mischa Barton, Deborah Kara Unger and Cameron Bright star in the thriller about a demolitions team that discovers a horrific secret. Filming begins in Canada this month.
2929 International is commencing sales on James Gray's comedy Two Lovers, which reunites the director with We Own The Night star Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a young man forced to choose between two women. 2929's slate also includes John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen and Guy Pierce. It opens in the US on November 9.
Myriad Pictures will be at the market with The Other Side, a fantasy comedy starring Jim Broadbent and Jason Lee, and The Cup, which stars Geoffrey Rush in the true story of an unfancied horse that won the Melbourne Cup in Australia.
Lightning Entertainment is showcasing the psychological thriller Anamorph, starring Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman and Peter Stormare. Katapult Films is hoping to replicate the success it enjoyed at Toronto with the documentary Joy Division - it takes documentary Bomb It! to AFM, about graffiti culture around the world.
Cinema Management Group is beginning sales on Chemical Wedding, based on Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson's script in which the occultist Aleister Crowley is brought back to life and terrorises students at Cambridge University. Simon Callow stars. CMG is also showing debut footage of Dave Payne's horror sequel No Man's Land: Reeker 2.
English-language projects from outside the US
Adulthood (UK)
The follow-up to Menhaj Huda's cult hit Kidulthood about a group of teenagers in London. This time, writer-actor Noel Clarke will move behind the camera to make his directorial debut on the project which follows his character, Sam, as he is released from prison. DJ Films and Cipher Films is producing with backing from the UK Film Council, Pathe Pictures and Limelight. Adulthood started shooting in London earlier this month. Pathe has UK rights.
Int'l sales: Independent, (44) 20 7257 8734
Afterwards (Fr)
Director Gilles Bourdos makes his English-language debut with this Fidelite Productions film starring Romain Duris, John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly. The $15.6m (EUR11m) film, set in the US, sees a couple who lose their child approached by a stranger with a gift for knowing when people will die. Wild Bunch has French rights.
Int'l sales: Wild Bunch, (33) 1 52 01 50 20
Blindness (Bra-Can)
Fernando Meirelles' adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's novel is set in a world where everyone has gone blind following a mass epidemic. Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Danny Glover star in the project, which is shooting in Sao Paulo.
Contact:Focus International(55) 11 38 39 94 00
Dean Spanley (NZ-UK)
Whimsical period drama about a father and son who encounter an eccentric man who thinks his previous incarnation was a spaniel. The film is in pre-production with Peter O'Toole, Jeremy Northam and Sam Neill attached to star. Hot Kiwi director Toa Fraser will direct, with General Film Corp and Atlantic Film Group producing.
Int'l sales: NZ Film, (64) 4 382 7680
Dorothy Mills (Fr-UK)
Agnes Merlet's first film for a decade, following 1997's Artemisia, is a psychological thriller set in a strange Scottish town. A mix of The Others and Breaking The Waves, the $7m film stars Black Book's Carice van Houten. Wild Bunch has French rights.
Int'l sales: Wild Bunch, (33) 1 52 01 50 20
Eden Lake (UK)
James Watkins' horror film is about a gang of youths who terrorise a young couple. The cast includes Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Thomas Turgoose, who created a stir with his role in This Is England. Produced by Christian Colson (The Descent) and Richard Holmes (Waking Ned).
Int'l sales: Pathe International, (44) 20 7462 4427
The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (UK-US)
Rebecca Miller will write and direct this comedy drama starring Robin Wright Penn, Julianne Moore and Winona Ryder. Elevation Filmworks and Plan B are producing the project, which is set to shoot in April 2008 in Connecticut.
Int'l sales: Lumina Films, (44) 20 7535 6714
Veronika Decides To Die (UK)
Kate Bosworth is set to star in this Muse Productions project set in New York. Buyers are already showing interest in this adaptation from a Paulo Coelho novel about a woman with only a few days to live who finds love. Emily Young directs. The project is set to start shooting in December.
Int'l sales: Velvet Octopus, (44) 20 7287 1900
Within The Whirlwind
(Ger-Fr-Bel-Pol)
Emily Watson will star in Marleen Gorris' drama which is based on the autobiography of Russian poet Evgenia Ginzburg who was imprisoned in a gulag. Due to be shot in Poland next year, the film is an international co-production between Germany's Tatfilm Produktion, France's Lorival, Belgium's Saga Film & Video and Poland's Yeti Films.
Contact: Telepool, (49) 89 55 87 60
DRAMA
Piano, Solo (It)
Riccardo Milani's drama is based on a book by the mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, about the brief life of pianist Luca Flores. The cast is headed by Kim Rossi Stuart (above) and Jasmine Trinca. The producers are Palomar, Rai Cinema and Hugo Film.
Int'l sales: Adriana Chiesa Enterprises, (39) 0680 86 052
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE PROJECTS
ACTION
A Sword Of Zen (S Kor)
A $3.6m epic battle film directed by Park Heung-shik and set during the Goryeo Dynasty. Produced by newcomers M&FC.
Int'l sales: M&FC, (82) 2 335 0023
Sanjuro (Jap)
Toho Studios is set to unveil the first ever Japanese remake of an Akira Kurosawa film. This faithful rendition is directed by Yoshimitsu Morita, produced by Haruki Kadokawa and stars Yuji Oda as the rough and tumble samurai.
Int'l sales (excluding Asia): Toho Company, (81) 3 3591 3530
COMEDY
Mes Amis, Mes Amours (Fr)
Lorraine Levy adapts her brother Marc's book about the woman who comes between two male friends, starring Vincent Lindon, Pascal Elbe and Virginie Ledoyen. Levy's novel Et Si C'Etait Vrai... was made into the Reese Witherspoon vehicle Just Like Heaven.
Int'l sales: Pathe International, (33) 1 71 72 33 07
Mortadelo And Filemon. Mission: Save The Planet (Sp)
Based on a popular comic-book series about two inept spies, this $13.4m project, written and directed by Miguel Bardem, hopes to repeat the success of the record-breaking Mortadelo And Filemon: The Big Adventure. The co-production between local outfits On Pictures, Zeta Audiovisual and Antena 3 is in post, and set for an early 2008 release in Spain.
Int'l sales: 6 Sales, (34) 91 78 17 301
The Red Inn (L'Auberge Rouge) (Fr)
Taxi 2, 3 and 4 director Gerard Krawczyk's $31m (EUR22m) dark comedy stars Josiane Balasko and Christian Clavier as innkeepers who persuade their deaf-mute son to kill the guests. Warner Bros releases the film in France in December.
Int'l sales: Roissy Films, (33) 1 53 53 50 50
Special Escort (Stellungswechsel) (Ger)
Maggie Peren's comedy about five financially stretched friends who establish a male escort agency for women, stars Florian Lukas, Kostja Ullmann, Herbert Knaup, Gustav Peter Wohler and Sebastian Bezzel. Twentieth Century Fox released the film in Germany on October 3, where it grossed $1.5m from 265 screens to October 14.
Contact: Telepool, (49) 89 55 87 60
DRAMA
Accuracy Of Death (Jap)
Based on a bestselling Japanese novel, Takeshi Kaneshiro plays an irreverent Grim Reaper. Rising talent Masaya Kakehi makes his directorial debut, with Toru Horibe producing. Warner Bros Japan is releasing at home in March.
Int'l sales: Nippon Television Network Corporation, (81) 3 6215 2882
Echo (Den)
Anders Morgenthaler, whose credits include Princess, directs this drama about a divorced cop who kidnaps his own son after losing custody to his ex-wife. Kim Bodnia stars in the project, produced by Copenhagen-Bombay.
Int'l sales: Trust Film Sales, (45) 3686 8788
Linha De Passe (Bra)
Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas co-direct a story about four brothers struggling to escape poverty to become football players. The project is shooting in Brazil and stars Vinicius de Oliveira.
Contact: Videofilmes, (55) 21 25 56 08 10
The Maiden And The Wolves (Fr)
Set at the end of the First World War, Laetitia Casta stars in this project about the first female veterinarian and the love triangle in which she is ensnared. Jean-Paul Rouve and Stefano Accorsi co-star in the $21m film, which is directed by Gilles Legrand. A promo reel will be shown at AFM.
Int'l sales: Films Distribution, (33) 1 53 10 33 99
DOCUMENTARY
Oceans (Fr)
The planet's uncharted underwater territories are depicted in this project which is being shot by the team behind the international hit Winged Migration - directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud and production house Galatee.
Int'l sales: Pathe International, (33) 1 71 72 33 07
HORROR/THRILLER
Body (Thailand)
The latest horror project from Thai shock house GMM Tai Hub, whose credits include Shutter and Alone, is a gripping psychological thriller about a student whose nightmares about a woman being mutilated become real. Paween Purijitpanya makes his directorial debut on the project which he also co-wrote with Chukiat Sakweerakul, who directed 2006 thriller 13 Beloved. Body opened in Thailand in early October.
Contact: GTH, (66) 2662 3404
Wide Awake (S Kor)
A young boy experiences a strange phenomenon during an operation and subsequently kills a girl while suffering from trauma. Written and directed by Lee Kyu-maan, Wide Awake stars Kim Myung-min and Kim Tae-woo. The $3.5m film will be released in July in South Korea.
Int'l sales: CJ Entertainment, (82) 2 2017 1193
DRAMA
Sultans Of The South (Mex-Sp)
Alejandro Lozano's film, about a band of thieves who steal from a Mexican bank, stars Tony Dalton (who also wrote the script), Jordi Molla and Ana de la Reguera. Warner Bros and Filmax are among the producers.
Int'l sales: Rafael Cabrera, (34) 93 336 8555.
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