Julian Sands

Source: Steve Smith

Julian Sands

Julian Sands is attached to Roland Joffe’s thriller The Maestro, which The Exchange represents for worldwide sales and will introduce to buyers at the virtual Cannes market next week.

Germany’s Thomas Kretschmann awill also star in the project, which boasts an international melting pot of talent that includes French actor Laëtitia Eïdo, Italy’s Claudia Gerini and Raoul Bova, Russia’s Alexander Petrov, and US-based actors Annie Ilonzeh and Alex Lane.

Joffe, whose credits include The Mission and The Killing Fields, is in pre-production on the film, inspired by the real story of Italian composer and musicologist Francesco Lotoro.

The story follows a successful Italian conductor who archives musical works composed by Jewish prisoners from the Nazi concentration camps. When he suspects a revered German conductor is passing off stolen Jewish compositions as his own, the composer works with Mossad to track down a missing Nazi.

Sands, whose credits include What/If and A Room With A View, will play a technician who works in the concert hall and is the son of one of the Jewish inmates whose music was stolen.

Joffe and Gilles Thompson adapted the screenplay from material by Thompson. Gilles Thompson and Richard Lechartier of Acteurs Auteurs Associés, Radosława Bardes and Izabela Igel of Orka Film served as producers.

“It is exciting to see such a strong international cast come together,” said The Exchange CEO Brian O’Shea. “The Maestro is a compelling project. We are excited to bring it to the market.”

Sands is represented by Seven Summits Pictures & Management, TalentWorks and The Artists Partnership.