Olivia Colman Dev Patel

Source: Dillon Bryden / Gordon Correll (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Olivia Colman, Dev Patel

Black Bear has launched international sales ahead of AFM, on the twisted romance Wicker starring Olivia Colman and Dev Patel.

Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson (Save Yourselves!) will direct from a script they adapted based on the short story, ‘The Wicker Husband’ by Ursula Wills-Jones.

Topic Studios and Tango will finance and produce, alongside Colman, Ed Sinclair and Tom Carver from South of The River, David Michôd and Brad Zimmerman for Yoki, Inc., and Justin Lothrop and Brent Stiefel for Votiv, who originated and financed development.

Production is earmarked for a 2024 start on the story set on the outskirts of a village by the sea, where smelly, single and perpetually ridiculed Fisherwoman (Colman) commissions herself a husband to be made from wicker (Patel).

The unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy and chaos.

UTA Independent Film Group co-represents US rights with CAA Media Finance.