Donald Sutherland Malcolm McDowell Carey Elwes

Source: Creative Artists Agency / Courtesy Chris Roe Management / Randall Slavin

Donald Sutherland Malcolm McDowell Cary Elwes

Blue Fox Entertainment has picked up worldwide rights ahead of Cannes to financial thriller The Panic with Donald Sutherland attached to join Cary Elwes, Malcolm McDowell, Justin Chatwin, and Cristiana Dell’Anna.

Daniel Adams, whose credits include The Walk and The Golden Boys, wrote and will direct the feature, which is based on a true story and takes place in 1907 in New York as real-life bankers J. P. Morgan and Charles Barney grapple with a financial crisis sparked by Barney’s failed attempt to manipulate the copper market.

As Morgan strives to safeguard his empire he becomes entangled in a clandestine struggle involving his brilliant mistress, Belle de Costa Greene, who ran his world-famous library.

Production is scheduled to begin in New York in June with Michael Mailer (The Walk) producing alongside Mark Williams and Eric Williams of Zero Gravity (The Accountant, Honest Thief).

Sean Krajewski, Ronnie Exley, and Alex Nazarenko will serve as executive producers, with Krajewski’s Rabbits Black banner providing funding.

Blue Fox Financing will be facilitating a loan secured against New York tax credits.

Sutherland has starred in Swimming With Sharks, Don’t Look Now, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, and The Hunger Games franchise among many others, while Elwes’s credits include The Princess Bride, Kiss The Girls, and Stranger Things.

Justin Chatwin Cristina Dell'Anna

Source: Nick Holmes / Courtesy of Gianni Chiffi

Justin Chatwin Cristiana Dell’Anna

McDowell starred in A Clockwork Orange, Gangster No.1, and the upcoming Thelma. Chatwin has starred in Shameless and Die In A Gunfight, and Dell’Anna in Cabrini.

Blue Fox’s James Huntsman said The Panic showcased “some of the most respected actors of our time”, while Adams highlighted the project’s “social relevance, and its value as a theatrical motion picture”.