Independent has pre-sold Bernard Rose's Mr Nice to Canada's Entertainment One and its UK affiliate Contender.

Chloe Sevigny, David Thewlis and Omid Djalili have now joined the cast, which is led by Rhys Ifans in the title role.

Ifans plays Howard Marks, the UK's infamous Oxford-educated drug baron. Marks himself is supporting the project. Rose adapted the screenplay from Mark's autobiography of the same name.

Sevigny plays Howard's former wife Judy Marks, Thewlis plays his former associate Jim McCann and Omid Djalili plays Pakistani supplier Malik.

Independent founder Luc Roeg is producing and executive producers are Michael Robinson, Andrew Orr, Daniel Shepherd and James Perkins.

The $12m project starts shooting January 12 in Wales and Spain.

Independent has the script available for buyers here at AFM and hopes to screen early footage at Berlin's EFM.

Independent's slate also includes Richard Jobson's New Town Killers, which screens today at 11 am; Rose's most recent film The Kreutzer Sonata; Noel Clarke's Adulthood, and Duncan Jones' Moon starring Sam Rockwell -- with Kevin Spacey now on board as the voice of the robot.