Toni Collette Anthony Hopkins Stephen Graham Charlie Plummer

Source: Christian Högstedt / Joseph Sinclair / Bill Reitzel / Tim Buol

Toni Collette, Anthony Hopkins, Stephen Graham, Charlie Plummer

Vendôme Pictures and Pathé are reuniting after their Oscar-winning Coda on Ibelin that will see Morten Tyldum direct Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham,  Toni Collette, Isabela Merced, Maisy Stella, and Anthony Hopkins.

Ther real-life story comes after a documentary version premiered at 2024 Sundance and tells of Mats Steen, a young man with a degenerative muscular disease whose family feared he was withdrawing from the world. However unbeknownst to them he had created an inspiring alter ego in the World Of Warcraft video game that was beloved by his online community.

Principal photography will take place in Europe in spring/summer 2026. Black Bear represents international sales and will commence talks at the AFM next week, with CAA Media Finance representing US rights.

Bafta nominee Ilaria Bernardini and Hossein Amini adapted the screenplay based on the blog “Musings of Life” by Steen.

Vendôme Pictures’ Philippe Rousselet and Fabrice Gianfermi are producing alongside Jérôme Seydoux at Pathé and Tyldum and Guri Neby for Neby-Tyldum AS. Vendôme and Pathé are financing the film.

The story originally appeared as the Norwegian documentary The Remarkable Life Of Ibelin directed by Benjamin Ree that premiered at 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix.

“Ibelin is a sensational story which will be told by a remarkable group of storytellers, first and foremost, Morten, who has a rare ability to evoke emotions with films like The Imitation Game and epics such as Passengers and Silo,” Rousselet said. “We have assembled a formidable cast, and with our frequent collaborators at Pathé, and the team at Black Bear, are confident this will be a film that will resonate with buyers and audiences everywhere.”

Tyldum has directed films like The Imitation Game and Headhunters. Plummer most recently starred in Lionsgate’s The Long Walk and his credits include All The Money In The World, and The Return. Graham earned three Emmys for the Netflix limited series Adolescence and has also starred in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, The Irishman, Rocketman, and the Venom and Pirates Of The Caribbean franchises.

Collette currently stars in the Netflix series Wayward and her credits include Hereditary, Knives Out, Little Miss Sunshine, Muriel’s Wedding and The Sixth Sense. Oscar-winning The Silence Of The Lambs and The Father lead Hopkins has also starred in The Two Popes, Nixon, The Remains Of The Day and the Thor franchise.

Merced stars in the HBO Max series The Last Of Us,, Warner Bros/DC’s Superman, and Alien: Romulus. Stella broke out in Amazon MGM’s My Old Ass and recently starred in Row K’s TIFF acquisition Poetic License

 

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