Heading into Cannes, Utopia has secured worldwide rights to college fraternity thriller The Line starring Alex Wolff, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, Lewis Pullman, and the late Euphoria star Angus Cloud.
Ethan Berger’s feature debut premiered in Tribeca last year and explores the cult-like aggression in fraternity culture and the antiquated traditions perpetuated in educational institutions.
Wolff (Hereditary) stars in the Chaos Cedar Production as Tom, a university sophomore who gets caught up in fraternity politics when he is lined up as a potential successor to the group’s president. Berger and Alex Russek co-wrote the screenplay.
Bailey starred in The Little Mermaid, Abrams in Euphoria, and Pullman in Top Gun: Maverick. The cast includes John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich, Dangerus Liaisons).
Adam Paulsen (Pig), Lije Sarki (The Peanut Butter Falcon) and Alexandre Dauman (Summer ’03) produced The Line. Utopia will launch international sales on the Croisette before it distributes in North America later this year.
“When fraternities are depicted in popular culture, they’re generally celebrated. Fraternities and hazing are intertwined. It’s the rite of passage, which has cost young men their lives,” Berger said. “We all know hazing in fraternities exists but has been relegated to basements.”
“With The Line, Berger directs an ensemble of Hollywood’s finest actors with such finesse that you would have no idea it is his first feature,” Candace Tan, Utopia’s director of acquisitions said. “Utopia is honored to release a film that daringly showcases a precautionary tale about institutional traditions and will be remembered as one of the most poignant depictions of college life in modern cinema.”
Tan brokered the deal with CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.
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