You are viewing the archive: “Berlin Film Festival”

Berlin: Matt Damon On ‘Promised Land’s Performance & ‘Argo’s Oscar Chances

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 1:03pm PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Matt Damon, Promised Land, The Monuments Men

Matt Damon was in town today in support of Promised Land, which has its international premiere here in competition. He was flanked by director Gus Van Sant and co-star and co-writer John Krasinski at a press conference where he spoke candidly about the film, noting his disappointment that it didn’t perform better in the U.S. When asked about the petroleum industry’s pre-emptively negative reaction to the film that deals with the controversial issue of fracking, Damon said, “People were expecting a certain kind of movie to attack and then waited to see how well it did. When the movie didn’t perform particularly well, they kind of just let it go.” Then he laughed and added, “The biggest attack we got was from critics.” The movie debuted in late December and took about $8M domestically. Damon said he hopes the film will still hit a mark with audiences (it rolls out overseas from next week). “It didn’t get the reception I would have hoped for, but it exists and it will exist… I’ve had movies bomb worse than this one and then make their money back later.” Even though he’s had “a lot of movies not well received by critics or audiences” he added, “this one, I really love it. It’s in my heart and I don’t understand what I’m hearing back.”

The actor is looking forward to returning to Berlin next month to start work on the George Clooney-directed The Monuments Men – (“Everyone else is so excited because George Clooney will be with me”) – but he said he wished the city had “the international airport it deserves.” A bugaboo for visitors from the U.S. is that the airport here doesn’t have direct connections to many non-European cities and Damon had to transfer through Frankfurt to arrive on Thursday. “As someone who loves coming here and loves working here, I would love to fly direct.” READ MORE »

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Berlin: Anchor Bay Pacts For Two Steve Austin Action Stunners

By JEN YAMATO | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 1:02pm PSTTags: Anchor Bay, Berlin Film Festival

Steve Austin Kill Em All JohnEXCLUSIVE: Anchor Bay Films is ready to keep rumbling with pro wrestler-turned-action star Steve “Stone Cold” Austin. The distributor has pacted in Berlin with Austin’s Broken Skull Ranch Productions and Bleiberg Entertainment, inking English-speaking territory rights to a pair of upcoming actioners starring the Expendables actor. First up is the evocatively-named Kill Em All, John, starring Austin as an ex-hitman pulled back into the underworld to “retire” a number of crime bosses as the clock ticks. Filming is set to begin this summer. Stunt veteran turned action director Jesse V. Johnson (who directed Austin and Dolph Lundgren in this month’s The Package) will direct from a script by Umair Aleem with Adam Marshall executive producing. Read More »

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Hot SXSW Trailer: ‘Hours’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 10:07am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Paul Walker, SXSW

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Walker trades fast and furious for frantic and fatherly in Hours, which will have its world premiere at SXSW and is currently being sold in Berlin. The pic, directed by Eric Heisserer, revolves around what happens after Hurricane Katrina hits the hospital where Walker’s child … Read More »

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Berlin: Stephen Herek To Direct Kathy Bates, Danny Glover In ‘The Great Gilly Hopkins’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 7:43am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, EFM, Picturehouse

Kathy Bates and Danny Glover are attached to star in The Great Gilly Hopkins, the bigscreen adaptation of Katherine Paterson’s Newbery Award-winning novel. Stephen Herek is directing the story of a wisecracking girl who moves from … Read More »

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Berlin: Focus Features Intl Boards Mike Leigh’s J.M.W Turner Portrait

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 3:15am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Focus Features International, Mike Leigh

Timothy Spall is attached to star in the next film from Mike Leigh. Focus Features International will begin worldwide sales in Cannes in May, on the film about British landscape watercolorist J.M.W. Turner. Turner was … Read More »

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EFM Roundup: Arclight Acquires ‘The Lookalike’, Alba Eyes ‘Weightless’, Fortissimo Has ‘Linsanity’, ‘Young Ones’ Adds Shannon, Hoult, Fanning To Cast; More

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 12:57am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, EFM, Peter Dinklage

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Arclight Films has acquired crime-romance project The Lookalike which wrapped in New Orleans in time for Berlin. The cast includes John Corbett, Justin Long (who is also aboard as producer), Scottie Thompson, Jerry O’Connell, Gina Gershon, Gillian Jacobs and Luiz Guzman. The Lookalike is the tale of a drug lord’s obsession with a woman and the complications it presents for his gangland buddies who unexpectedly have to find a lookalike. The film is directed by Richard Gray who’s also a producer, and written by Michelle Davis-Gray. Clay Epstein negotiated on behalf of Arclight Films with Gray’s Yellow Brick Films. Arclight is presenting the film to buyers in Berlin.

Myriad Pictures is here pre-selling Weightless, the first directing gig for Oscar-nominated Monster’s Ball screenwriter Milo Addica. Jessica Alba is in negoatiations to star as Maysie Overall, an astronaut who causes a fatal motorcycle accident before heading off on her first space mission. When she survives the crash of her space shuttle, her conscience drives her to seek out her own victim’s family and falling for his brother, a cop, in the process. Myriad’s Kirk D’Amico will produce with Steve Norris, alongside the UK’s Apollo Productions and its partners, Pinewood Studios and Double Negative.

Fortissimo Films will sell international (outside North America and China) on Jeremy Lin documentary Linsanity. CAA is repping the U.S. on the movie about the basketball player’s meteoric rise which just premiered in Sundance. Evan Jackson Leong directed and Christopher C. Chen of Endgame Entertainment, Brian Yang of 408 Films and Allen Lu produced.

Jake Paltrow’s Young Ones is getting underway in South Africa with a cast that now includes Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning and Kodi Smit McPhee. Paltrow directs and wrote the story about a young boy struggling to protect his family in a world where water has become the most precious and fastest dwindling resource on the planet. Tristan Orpen Lynch produces through Subotica and Michael Auret produces through Spier Films. 6 SALES and The Exchange are handling international rights. UTA is repping North America. Peter Garde, Marina Fuentes Arredonda, Quickfire’s James Atherton and Jan Pace, and Brian O’Shea are exec producers.
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Berlin: Running Down The Competition

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 12:43am PSTTags: Adopt Films, Berlin Film Festival

The Berlin Film Festival‘s competition begins its official screenings today after Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster opened out of competition last night. The main section has taken on increasing importance over the past few years. In … Read More »

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EFM: Sales Execs Lament Lengthy Packaging Time, So What’s The Hold-Up?

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 2:51pm PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, EFM

Before the European Film Market kicked off today in Berlin, sales execs had a handful of issues on their minds. As usual, the weather and the EFM’s position on a jammed calendar were concerns. The length of time that packages are taking to come together was another, bigger one.

Prior to arriving in Germany, a refrain from sales companies was that this year the time between the AFM, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Sundance and Berlin was more condensed and had an impact on dealmaking. Hollywood agencies didn’t reopen after the holidays until January 7, and with a frenzied Sundance falling a mere 10 days later followed by Berlin 10 days after that, it made for some pretty hefty juggling. The Solution’s Lisa Wilson told me agents were saying, “Contact us after Sundance.” But at a week before Berlin, she said, “There’s a limit to how late we can go.” Read More »

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EFM Roundup: K5 Lands Rights To Tim Robbins’ ‘Man Under’, Political Thriller ‘The Lion’s Share’; WestEnd Secures Atom Bomb Drama ‘Midnight Sun’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 1:15pm PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Big Deals Film, European Film Market, John Leguizamo, Steve Coogan, Tim Robbins

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K5 International has acquired international rights to Man Under, which will be directed by and star Tim Robbins. Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloe Moretz co-star in the pic, about a Yonkers family swept up in New York’s art and high society scene after their picture is taken by a photographer whose tragic death raises her profile and that of her subjects. Ann Cherkis (The Secret) wrote the screenplay, and Alexandra Milchan through her EMJAG Prods, Scott Lambert of Film 360, and Aimée Peyronnet of Wild Child Films are producing. K5 is introducing Man Under to EFM buyers at the Berlin Film Festival; UTA Independent Film Group is repping North American rights. Robbins is represented by UTA and 3 Arts, Pfeiffer by CAA and Management 360, and Moretz by WME and 3 Arts.

K5 also has taken worldwide rights to the political thriller The Lion’s Share, to be directed by Nathan Morlando and star Jim Sturgess and Djimon Hounsou. It begins shooting in September and is the story of journalist Aaron Fletcher (Sturgess), who travels to Somalia to secure a career-making interview with highly dangerous pirate Samakab “Kab” Roble (Hounsou). The danger escalates for both men and the interview takes on new stakes as the journalist learns the only way out may be to deliver the head of a man who is both hero and criminal. Morlando and Allison Black co-wrote; Black and Genevieve Hofmeyr are producing. … Read More »

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eOne In Multi-Territory Deal On Reese Witherspoon-Starrer ‘The Good Lie’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 12:03pm PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Big Deals Film, Reese Witherspoon, The Good Lie

Toronto/London/Berlin – February 7, 2013 –Entertainment One (“eOne”) is pleased to announce that it has secured multi-territory rights in all media to the upcoming drama The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon. eOne will handle distribution of the film in the UK, Spain, Benelux and Australia/NZ. Lionsgate International represented the international rights to the film on behalf of the film’s producers.

From celebrated Canadian director Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar), The Good Lie tells the story of a young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. They develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman (Witherspoon) assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to his new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind.

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Berlin: Kristen Stewart & Elizabeth Banks To Explore Fashion & Fetishism In ‘The Big Shoe’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 9:36am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks are joining Jim Sturgess in Steven Shainberg’s The Big Shoe. HanWay Films is handling international here at the EFM with CAA repping domestic. Secretary director Shainberg is helming from a … Read More »

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Berlin: So Much For Bad Blood Between Harvey And Megan Ellison; TWC Acquires Wong Kar Wai’s ‘The Grandmaster’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 8:59am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Big Deals Film, Harvey Weinstein, Megan Ellison, The Grandmaster, The Grandmasters
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: I’ve read about the supposed bad blood between Harvey Weinstein and Annapurna Pictures principal Megan Ellison over the subpar box office grosses of The Master. But any idea they’re not doing business together seems to be a bit crunched by a new deal they’ve just made. The Weinstein Company has acquired all rights in the U.S. and English-speaking Canadian territories from Annapurna on Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, which premieres tonight as the opening film at the Berlin Film Festival. TWC also landed rights to Australia, New Zealand, and the UK from Wild Bunch.

The Grandmaster, written by Wong, Zou Jingzhi, and Xu Haofeng, was executive produced by Ellison (she has money in the movie), and produced by Jacky Pang and Wong. The film opened to critical praise last month in China and has just reached over $50 million at the box office there, making it the director’s highest-grossing film in his career.

I’m sure there is uneasiness between Ellison and Weinstein. In an interview I did with him at Sundance, Weinstein acknowledged their mutual disappointment over The Master and how it didn’t break out, with Ellison not coming near recouping the $35 million or so that she spent to make the film. In hindsight, Weinstein felt he could have helped by selling the more relate-able theme of the homebound warrior who’s lost and looking for something to believe in, rather than the origins of Scientology theme that stuck with the film and didn’t get a strong response.

It is an epic martial arts drama set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1930s China and inspired by the life and times of the legendary IP Man (Tony Leung), mentor to Bruce Lee. The story focuses on two kung fu masters, IP Man, and Gong Er, and as their worlds collide on the night of the Japanese invasion in 1936. The plot encompasses themes of war, family, revenge, desire, love, and memory. The all-star cast headed by Tony Leung Chiu Wa also includes Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen, Xiao Shengyang and Song Hye Kyo as well as hundreds of Asia’s top martial artists. Read More »

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Berlin: IM Global’s Anthem Boards Tom Hardy Thriller ‘Locke’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 5:12am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, IM Global, Tom Hardy

Berlin, February 7: IM Global specialty label Anthem will fully finance LOCKE, to be written and directed by Steven Knight (Hummingbird) and starring Tom Hardy (Inception) for Paul Webster, Joe Wright and Guy Heeley’s Shoebox Films.

Based on an original screenplay from Knight (Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things) LOCKE is the story of one man’s life unraveling in a tension-fuelled ninety minute race against time. Ivan Locke has the perfect family, his dream job, and tomorrow should be the crowning moment of his career. But one phone call will force him to make a decision that will put it all on the line.

LOCKE begins production in London, England later this month. Paul Webster and Guy Heeley will produce.

IM Global, Shoebox and Knight previously collaborated on HUMMINGBIRD, to be released by Lionsgate later this year.

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Berlin: Participant Media Enters Pact To Co-Finance Spanish-Language Pics

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 2:14am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, EFM, Participant Media

As local-language movies take on increasing importance for U.S. firms, Participant PanAmerica expects to develop and co-finance 10-12 Spanish-language films a year under a deal with Mexico’s Canana, Chile’s Fabula and Colombia’s Dynamo. The five-year agreement follows Participant Media‘s recent co-financing of Canana’s Chavez and Fabula’s No, an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language film. The company is also in talks with Dynamo to finance supernatural thriller Aguas Rojas, which Spain’s Apaches is co-producing. Participant CEO Jim Berk said the deal will enable the company to expand its reach into the fast growing Spanish-speaking market and give it access to a talent pool of “fresh and highly creative filmmakers who are looking to explore important contemporary issues in exciting ways.” The initiative will be led by Jonathan King, EVP of narrative production for Participant. Canana, founded in 2005 by Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal and Pablo Cruz, and recently joined by partner and CEO Julian Levin, has credits that include Sin Nombre and Miss Bala. No director Pablo Larraín Read More »

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Hot Berlin Trailer*: ‘Big Ass Spider’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday February 6, 2013 @ 4:36pm PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, European Film Market, SXSW

I put an asterisk in the title there because I can’t promise this will be a massive breakout from the market stalls of the European Film Market. But I will say that the story of a giant arachnid … Read More »

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Berlin: Mister Smith Entertainment Expands

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday February 6, 2013 @ 8:00am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Big Deals Film, Mister Smith Entertainment

LONDON/LOS ANGELES– February 6, 2013: Eight months after launching at the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival, Mister Smith Entertainment (MSE) CEO David Garrett today announced the expansion of the MSE team with offices now in Los Angeles, Paris and London.

Jill Jones joins as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Publicity. Jones, formerly EVP Marketing and Publicity for Lionsgate, and prior to that Summit Entertainment, oversaw the international releases of the Twilight franchise. Jones, who will report directly to Garrett, will be based in Paris and London. She will oversee international marketing operations heading a team that includes new hires Pamela Godwin-Austen as Senior Vice President International Publicity and Andrew Boyd, Senior Vice President International Marketing, whose primary focus will be the DreamWorks Studios slate distributed by Mister Smith in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Both executives will be based in Los Angeles. In addition, London-based Annasivia Britt, continues to anchor the team in Europe as Vice President, Marketing and Publicity. As part of the new expansion, Tracy McCrory, previously a Vice President at Miramax and Warner Bros., joins the London Headquarters as Executive Vice President of Delivery and Servicing overseeing all of Mister Smith’s titles and reporting directly to CEO David Garrett.

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Global Showbiz Briefs: Wesley Snipes, ITV’s ‘The Chase’, Unifrance, Syfy’s ‘Defiance’, Berlin Retro, BBC-Fremantle, ‘The Raid 2′

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday January 31, 2013 @ 10:58pm PSTTags: BBC, Berlin Film Festival, Defiance, Fremantle, The Chase, Unifrance, Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes Comeback Effort Kicks Off With ‘Gallowwalkers’
Wesley SnipesIn advance of the former action star’s impending release from federal prison, Wesley Snipes is trying to get back into the game with the announcement that Gallowwalkers, the long-in-development action/sci-fi/horror film directed by Andrew Goth, will be shown to international buyers at the 2013 Berlin film market. Gallowwalkers features Snipes in the role of Aman, a cursed gunslinger whose victims return from the dead to torment him. The film, which began production in 2006, will have its market premiere February 8. Gallowwalkers also stars Riley Smith, Tanit Phoenix and Patrick Bergin. It is executive produced and produced by Jack Bowyer (Dark Hearts, Private Peaceful) and produced by Courtney Lauren Penn (Dark Hearts), and Brandon Burrows (Darks Hearts) of Boundless Pictures. VMI International is handling sales at Berlin. - Ross Lincoln

ITV Orders 300 More Episodes of ‘The Chase’
The UK’s ITV has renewed popular daytime game show The Chase with what is believed to be the network’s biggest order ever — more than 300 episodes over 2 seasons. The ITV Studios-produced show, which this week was named Broadcast magazine’s Best Daytime Programme, airs daily at 5 PM and has boosted the time-slot average by 1.1 million viewers, a 39% gain vs. last year.
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Berlin Film Festival Completes Competition Jury With Tim Robbins, Susanne Bier & More

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday January 28, 2013 @ 3:46am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Tim Robbins, Wong Kar Wai

The Berlin Film Festival has rounded out the panel of judges who will hand out Golden and Silver Bears next month. Wong Kar Wai is jury president this year and his The Grandmaster officially … Read More »

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Hot International Trailer: ‘Side Effects’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday January 24, 2013 @ 4:11am PSTTags: Berlin Film Festival, Open Road, Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh‘s Side Effects opens Stateside on February 8 via Open Road. It will have its international premiere at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, where the thriller is running in competition. Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in the … Read More »

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