Mike Fleming

quintoget-attachment.aspxEXCLUSIVE: It’s the start of the Cannes Film Festival, when film packages that percolated quietly surface to be shopped for distribution around the world. Here’s the first good one I’ve come across, with a topical premise: Kevin Spacey and Zachary Quinto have committed to star in Margin Call, a corporate thriller  that marks the feature directing debut of J.C. Chandor, who wrote the script.

The film tracks eight people at a prominent investment bank in a tumultuous 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis. The characters struggle to position themselves ahead of the coming storm. Myriad Pictures will rep the film at Cannes, while Qunito’s reps at Untitled Entertainment and UTA will broker a domestic deal. The film will shoot in Manhattan this summer.

Quinto and his Before The Door partners Neal Dodson and Corey Moosa are producing with Joe Jenckes. Myriad’s Kirk D’Amico will be executive producer with Laura Rister, Randy Manis and Washington Square Films’ Joshua Blum.

Spacey, who’s six seasons into his term as Artistic Director of The Old Vic Theatre in London, most recently played disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack and stars in the Chinese production Inseparable. Both films are upcoming and were produced by his Trigger Street banner. CAA and manager Joanne Horowitz made his deal. Quinto, who played Sylar in Heroes and Spock in Star Trek and the sequel that JJ Abrams will get underway after he completes directing Super 8, had also been eyed to play George Gershwin in a DreamWorks biopic that Steven Spielberg was prepping as a potential directing vehicle before he chose The War Horse.