You are viewing the archive: “David Ayer”

UPDATE: Sony Pictures Confirms Deadline Scoop; Studio Wins Brad Pitt WWII Pic ‘Fury’ Auction

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 5:35pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Brad Pitt, David Ayer, Fury, Sony Pictures
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: Sony Pictures has confirmed Deadline’s scoop that it captured the Brad Pitt WWII tank movie Fury from Bill Block’s QED. The release is at the bottom of our original break on the story.

EARLIER EXCLUSIVE, 4:42 PM PDT: Sony Pictures will emerge from a big auction with the rights on Fury, the David Ayer-directed WWII tank drama that will star Brad Pitt. This is all just unfolding, and I’m told that Sony and Universal Pictures were the big players for this film. It was shopped by Bill Block’s QED, who bought the Ayer spec for $1 million, and then got a Pitt commitment that made this the hottest project in town. I’ve heard that the budget will be $80 million plus and that QED retains some territories plus a gross position for the company and for Pitt.

Fury is a WWII script by the End Of Watch writer-director, and QED will produce with John Lesher and his Le Grisbi Productions banner. Ethan Smith, Block and Lesher are producing and they are eyeing a fall production start. The action takes place in 1945 as the Nazi regime collapses and the five-man crew of an American tank called Fury battles a desperate German army. Ayer and QED reteam after the action thriller Ten, which Ayer directed and which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington and Mireille Enos. Open Road will release it next January. Lesher produced Ayer’s End Of Watch. Pitt most recently starred in and produced World War Z, but he’s back in the WWII territory of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

I’m still working this story and will tell you more when I can confirm it.

Columbia Pictures has acquired domestic
distribution and a good portion of the available international distribution
rights to David Ayer’s epic war film FURY, with Brad Pitt set to star in the
leading role, it was announced today by QED International CEO Bill Block and
Doug Belgrad, President of Columbia Pictures. QED is producing the film with
John Lesher’s Le Grisbi Productions and Ethan Smith. Alex Ott is co-producing
the feature with Ayer. Principal photography is set to begin in September 2013
and Columbia anticipates releasing FURY on November 14, 2014.

FURY is set at the very end of World War II, in April 1945. As the Allies make
their final push in the European Theater, a battle-hardened army sergeant named
Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly
mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men
face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi
Germany.

“We loved this script from the moment we read it,” Belgrad said. “This is epic
and authentic storytelling at its finest and we couldn’t be more excited to be
in business with David Ayer and Brad Pitt on this incredible story of sacrifice
and heroism.”

QED and the studio previously partnered on the worldwide hit DISTRICT 9. FURY is
Ayer’s second film with QED, which is financing and producing his ensemble
action thriller TEN, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington and
Mireille Enos, and which is set for release from Open Road Films in January
2014. FURY also reteams Ayer with John Lesher, who produced his last film, END
OF WATCH.

Josh Grode and Noel Lohr represented QED in the transaction.

Comments (14)

Brad Pitt To Star In David Ayer’s World War II Movie ‘Fury’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 3, 2013 @ 1:32pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Brad Pitt, David Ayer, Fury, QED International
Mike Fleming

Brad PittEXCLUSIVE: Brad Pitt is in final negotiations to star in Fury, the David Ayer-directed drama that will start production in September. This is the Ayer script that Bill Block‘s QED International paid $1 million to acquire back in February. It was QED’s biggest spec deal ever, and when an indie company hooks a star like Pitt, it’s money well spent. Fury is a WWII script by the End Of Watch writer-director, and QED will produce with John Lesher and his Le Grisbi Productions banner. Ethan Smith, Block and Lesher are producing and they are eyeing a fall production start. QED is selling foreign.

David AyerThe action takes place in 1945 as the Nazi regime collapses and the five-man crew of an American tank called Fury battles a desperate German army. Ayer and QED reteam after the action thriller Ten, which Ayer directed and which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington and Mireille Enos. Open Road will release it next January. Lesher produced Ayer’s End Of Watch. Pitt most recently starred in and produced World War Z, but he’s back in the WWII territory of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Read More »

Comments (12)

QED Pays $1 Million For David Ayer WWII Spec Script ‘Fury’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday February 13, 2013 @ 6:07pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Bill Block, David Ayer, QED, WWII Spec Script
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: In what amounts to the biggest spec deal so far this year, Bill Block‘s QED International has paid $1 million for Fury, a WWII spec script by End Of Watch writer/director David Ayer. Ayer will direct, and QED will produce with John Lesher and his Le Grisbi Productions banner. Ethan Smith, Block and Lesher are producing and they are eyeing a fall production start. QED is selling foreign.

The action takes place in 1945 as the Nazi regime collapses and the five man crew of an American tank called Fury battles a desperate German army. Ayer and QED reteam after the action thriller Ten, which Ayer directed and which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington and Mireille Enos. Open Road will release it next January. Lesher produced Ayer’s End Of Watch.

Describing his project, Ayer said his goal is to “bring a fresh execution to the genre. What these men went through is worthy of a complex, honest portrayal. This will have incredible, visceral action and complex rich characters. I plan to bring tank combat to life in a way that lands with a modern audience.” Read More »

Comments 22

Open Road Dates Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Ten’ For January 24, 2014

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday December 19, 2012 @ 2:22pm PSTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Ayer, Open Road Films, Ten

Open Road Films will release Ten, the David Ayer-directed action thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, nationwide on January 24, 2014. Schwarzenegger leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world’s deadliest drug cartels. When the … Read More »

Comments (14)

‘End Of Watch’ Returns To Theaters Dec. 7 In Awards-Season Push

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday November 30, 2012 @ 10:45am PSTTags: David Ayer, End Of Watch, Open Road Films

End Of Watch, which opened to No. 1 at the box office in September, will be back in theaters nationwide December 7 to give awards voters another crack at the LA cop drama written and directed by David Ayer. … Read More »

Comments (9)

Schwarzenegger On Set Of ‘Ten’: Photo

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday October 25, 2012 @ 1:54pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Ayer, Ten

Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted “I’m having a great time working with @DavidAyerMovies on my new movie, Ten” plus the image below – “Check out my look” – from the set of the David Ayer-directed project. Bill Block’s QED is financing and producing and Open Road Films has … Read More »

Comments (18)

Hot TV Spot: ‘End Of Watch’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday September 8, 2012 @ 9:56am PDTTags: David Ayer, End Of Watch

Open Road Films has posted a new TV spot for writer-director David Ayer’s unusual cop movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, America Ferrera, Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez. Premiering tonight at the Toronto Film Festival, End Of Watch opens September 21st:

Comments (4)

Mireille Enos Set For David Ayer-Directed ‘Ten’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday August 23, 2012 @ 3:45pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Ayer, Mireille Enos, Ten, The Killing
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The Killing star Mireille Enos is set to star in Ten, the David Ayer-directed film that stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington. QED is producing, financing and handling international sales. Shooting begins in October in Atlanta. The film has … Read More »

Comments (4)

Max Martini In Talks To Join ‘Breacher’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday August 21, 2012 @ 8:41pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, David Ayer, Movie Casting
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Max Martini is in negotiations to join the cast of Breacher. The actor will play Pyro, a member of the elite DEA team at the heart of the David Ayer-directed action thriller. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Avatar’s Sam Worthington, and Terrence Howard, Breacher chronicles the team as they are systematically killed off one by one following their theft of drug cartel money. Skip Woods wrote the script. QED International is providing the financing, with Open Road distributing. Read More »

Comments (6)

Hot Red Band Trailer: ‘End Of Watch’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday August 13, 2012 @ 9:15pm PDTTags: David Ayer, End Of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena

Open Road Films has put up this R-rated trailer for writer-director David Ayer’s End Of Watch, which looks at the workday activities of two L.A. cops — Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena — from the perspective of various hand-held, dashboard and security cameras. Co-starring Anna Kendrick, Frank Grillo, … Read More »

Comments (16)

Action Thriller ‘Ten’ To Team David Ayer And Arnold Schwarzenegger

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday May 7, 2012 @ 9:41am PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Ayer, Open Road, QED, Ten
Mike Fleming

Arnold Schwarzenegger TenOpen Road has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Ten, an action thriller that David Ayer will direct with Arnold Schwarzenegger starring. The film will be funded by QED International. Skip Woods wrote the script. It’s … Read More »

Comments (12)

Hot Trailer: ‘End Of Watch’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 3, 2012 @ 11:24am PDTTags: David Ayer, End Of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal, Open Road

Here’s one for writer-director David Ayer’s End Of Watch. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera, the Open Road release is slated to hit theaters September 28.

Comments 24

‘End Of Watch’ Release Set For Sept. 28

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday March 2, 2012 @ 9:58am PSTTags: David Ayer, End Of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal, Open Road

End of Watch Release DateOpen Road’s deal last month to distribute the cop drama written and directed by David Ayer included a 2,000-screen rollout, a minimum guarantee just north of $2 million and a $20 million P&A commitment. Now … Read More »

Comments (1)

Open Road Makes $2M Deal With $20M P&A For David Ayer’s ‘End Of Watch’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 23, 2012 @ 5:31pm PSTTags: David Ayer, End Of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Open Road
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Open Road is closing a deal for U.S. distribution rights to End Of Watch, the David Ayer-directed cop drama that stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena and Anna Kendrick. I’m told that Open Road will release the film later this year. They’ve committed to a 2,000-screen run, with a minimum guarantee just north of $2 million and a $20 million P&A commitment. Read More »

Comments (5)

HBO Developing Political Thriller Drama From ‘Training Day’ Writer David Ayer

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 3:34pm PSTTags: David Ayer, HBO
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: HBO is taking a look into the Los Angeles underworld with a new drama project from Training Day writer David Ayer and producer John Lesher. Ayer is set to write, direct and executive produce the untitled series project, now … Read More »

Comments (7)

David Ayer To Script Updated ‘Scarface’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday November 29, 2011 @ 3:29pm PSTTags: Al Pacino, Ben Hecht, Brian De Palma, David Ayer, Howard Hawks, Marc Shmuger, Martin Bregman, Paul Muni, Scarface, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Training Day scribe David Ayer has been hired to write the new version of Scarface for Universal Pictures. The film will put a contemporary spin on the outlaw tale first released in 1932 with Paul Muni playing an Italian who took over Chicago, and then turned into the spectacularly violent 1983 film that starred Al Pacino as Tony Montana, a Cuban who took over the cocaine trade in 1980s Miami. The new film is being produced by Marc Shmuger and his Global Produce banner along with Martin Bregman, who produced the Brian De Palma-directed version. When the studio set up the project in late September, the intention wasn’t to do a remake as much as to marry the common elements of the two films with a contemporary crime context. Basically, the focus is on an outsider, an immigrant who barges his way into the criminal establishment in pursuit of a twisted version of the American dream, becoming a kingpin through a campaign of ruthlessness and violent ambition.

Ayer tells me that he is not at all cowed by stepping into an iconic title. “This is a fantasy for me, I can still remember when I saw the film at 13 and it blew my mind,” he said. “I sought it out; I went after it hard. I see it as the story of the American dream, with a character whose moral compass points in a different direction. That puts it right in my wheelhouse. I studied both the original Ben Hecht-Howard Hawks movie and the DePalma-Pacino version and found some universal themes. I’m still under the hood figuring out the wiring that will translate, but both films had a specificity of place, there was unapologetic violence, and a main character who socially scared the shit out of people, but who had his own moral code. Each was faithful to the underworld of its time. There are enough opportunities in the real world today that provide an opportunity to do this right. If it was just an attempt to remake the 1983 film, that would never work.” Read More »

Comments 47

Toronto: Emmett-Furla And Envision Set $250 Million Film Fund

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday September 9, 2011 @ 4:00am PDTTags: Allen Hughes, Anna Kendrick, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Curtis Jackson, David Ayer, Forest Whitaker, George Furla, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Cusack, Mark Wahlberg, Nicolas Cage, Randall Emmett, Rebecca Hall, Remington Chase, Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe, Stephen Frears, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

Emmett/Furla Films, a company that has been growing more ambitious in the film financing and production arena, has teamed with Stepan Martirosyan and Remington Chase’s Envision Entertainment to establish a new $250 million revolving equity and debt fund to finance a new slate of star-driven commercial films. The fund was announced as EFF principal Randall Emmett comes to Toronto to make deals on films that include the Allen Hughes-directed political corruption drama Broken City, which stars Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe, and Frozen Ground, the fact-based thriller about a serial killer in Alaska that will star Nicolas Cage and John Cusack. Martirosyan and Chase are executive producers on the latter.

The fund carries no set restrictions on how and where capital is allocated, but it will continue EFF’s momentum. The company recently financed the Stephen Frears-directed Lay The Favorite — with a cast that includes Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta-Jones — with films in the works that include the David Ayer-directed crime drama End of Watch with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick; Fire with Josh Duhamel, Willis and Rosario Dawson; and Freelancers, a drama that stars Robert De Niro, Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. EFF’s Emmett continues to be Jackson’s partner in Cheetah Vision Films, which has a deal at Lionsgate. EFF will make nine films this year. Read More »

Comments (8)

Tony Scott Boarding ‘The Wild Bunch’ While Revving ‘Hell’s Angels’ As Next Pic

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday August 18, 2011 @ 3:00pm PDTTags: Brian Helgeland, Chris Pine, David Ayer, Denzel Washington, Ernest Borgnine, Jeff Bridges, Jerry Weintraub, Ryan Reynolds, Scott Frank, Stephen Gaghan, Tom Cruise, Tony Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline revealed this morning that Ridley Scott was returning to his sci-fi classic Blade Runner. His Scott Free partner and brother Tony Scott is also getting serious about a new version of a movie classic. Scott … Read More »

Comments 62

Russell Crowe Signs On For Mayoral Run In ‘Broken City’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 8, 2011 @ 11:10am PDTTags: Allen Hughes, Brian Tucker, Broken City, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Curtis Jackson, David Ayer, George Furla, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Cusack, Josh Duhamel, Mark Wahlberg, Nicolas Cage, Randall Emmett, Rebecca Hall, Russell Crowe, Scott Walker, Stephen Frears, Stephen Levinson, Vince Vaughn
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Russell Crowe is set to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in the Allen Hughes-directed independently financed noir drama Broken City. Production begins in November. Wahlberg plays an ex-cop-turned-private detective who is hired by the mayor (the role Crowe will play) to see if his wife is cheating on him. The private eye confirms those suspicions, and when the mayor’s wife’s cheating partner ends up dead, the private eye immerses himself in the mayor’s business and uncovers a real estate scandal that involves the pol dealing himself choice city-owned properties. The script by Brian Tucker made the 2008 Black List. The $60 million film will be financed by Emmett/Furla Films.

Wahlberg is producing through his Closest to the Hole banner; Stephen Levinson through Leverage; and Randall Emmett, George Furla and Hughes are also producing. Wahlberg and Levinson, partners on Entourage and Boardwalk Empire, just wrapped the drama Contraband. Crowe is costarring as Jor-El in the Superman reboot Man of Steel and just wrapped The Man With The Iron Fists. Read More »

Comments (3)
More Deadline | Hollywood »