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Berlin Day 3: FilmNation Takes ‘Shelter’; ATO Buys ‘The Woman In the Fifth’

By TIM ADLER in London | Saturday February 12, 2011 @ 8:41am PSTTags: 61st Berlin Film Festival, 61st Berlin Film Festival Deals, Berlin Film Festival, Blue Lake Entertainment, Ethan Hawke, FilmNation, Jessica Chastain, John Carpenter, Michael Shannon, Movie Deals, Movies, Sony Pictures Classics, Take Shelter, The Ward

FilmNation has taken overseas rights to Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, which Sony Pictures Classics bought early on at the Sundance Film Festival. Michael Shannon stars opposite Jessica Chastain as a man haunted by his dreams who obsessively starts building a storm shelter in his backyard. But what he can’t tell those closest to him is what he really is afraid his dreams signify. Ad Vitam has already come on board for France. FilmNation will begin selling in earnest at Cannes.

… ARC Entertainment and XLrator Media Partnership have also taken U.S. rights to John Carpenter’s The Ward, the cult director’s first feature since the late 90s. Amber Heard (Drive Angry 3D), Mamie Gummer (Off the Map) and Danielle Panabaker (Friday the 13th) star in this shocker set in a 60s mental institution terrorised by malevolent forces. Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding of Echo Lake Entertainment (Tsotsi) produce along with Peter Block of A Bigger Boat. XLrator negotiated the deal with Cinetic Media’s John Sloss and Echo Lake’s Andy Spaulding. FilmNation is handling overseas.

… And Blue Lake Entertainment Fund, an “8-figure” fund launched by Echo Lake Entertainment and Canadian financier Blue Ice Entertainment, is to finance projects on the books of Paris-based sales agent Celluloid Dreams. Blue Lake will finance projects budgeted over $10 million by proven directors with global appeal. Celluloid Dreams has a reputation of being one of the toniest sales agents in Europe, having in the past worked with directors Michael Haneke, Jacques Audiard and Francois Ozon. Celluloid Dreams CEO Hengamah Panahi said: ”What the market needs more than anything is exceptional films. Good is no longer enough.”

… ATO has acquired North American rights to Pawel Pawlikowski’s The Woman In the Fifth from sales agent Memento Films International. Ethan Hawke plays a writer who comes to Paris to be closer to his young daughter who’s living with his French ex-wife. Then he gets involved with Kristin Scott Thomas’s beautiful, mysterious widow. ATO plans on releasing Film4 and UK Film Council backed project later this year.

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Sundance 2011: Does 38 Film Deals Mean That The Indie Biz Is Back?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday February 4, 2011 @ 4:43pm PSTTags: 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Dee Rees, Harvey Weinstein, HBO, Joe Drake, Michael Shannon, Oprah Winfrey, Ron Burkle, Steven Rales, Tobey Maguire
Mike Fleming

Dealmakers who came into Park City hoping to recapture the acquisitions momentum of last fall’s Toronto Film Festival returned this week with smiles on their faces. And why not? By my count, 38 transactions have been completed on Sundance films … Read More »

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‘The Iceman’ Draws Killer Cast: Michael Shannon, Benicio Del Toro, James Franco

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday January 20, 2011 @ 2:25pm PSTTags: Ariel Vromen, Benicio Del Toro, James Franco, Michael Shannon, Millennium Films, Movie Deals, Movies, Richard Kuklinski
Mike Fleming

(LOS ANGELES, CA) Michael Shannon, Benicio Del Toro and James Franco will be starring in THE ICEMAN, it was announced today in a joint statement made by Millennium Films and Bleiberg Entertainment.

Ariel Vromen (Danika,Rx) is directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Morgan Land (Rx, The Point of No Return), based on the book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer by Anthony Bruno and on interview footage from the documentary The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer by Jim Thebaut.

Ehud Bleiberg is producing the film. Millennium Films’ Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Avi Lerner and Boaz Davidson are executive producing with Untitled Entertainment’s Laura Rister. Rabbit Bandini’s Miles Levy and Vince Jolivette are also executive producers. Bleiberg Entertainment’s Nicholas Donnermeyer will be associate producer. Nu Image, Inc., Millennium Films’ parent company, will handle worldwide sales.

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Pair Of AFM Projects Telling Killer Tale

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday November 3, 2010 @ 11:06am PDTTags: American Film Market, Ariel Vromen, Benicio Del Toro, Book-to-Movie, James Franco, Michael Shannon, Mickey Rourke, Movie Deals, Movies, Richard Kuklinski, The Ice Man
Mike Fleming

There are two AFM project packages being shopped on the same subject: Richard Kuklinski, the notorious New Jersey mob hit man. Nu Image has Boardwalk Empire‘s Michael Shannon to play Kuklinski and Benicio Del Toro and (maybe) James Franco attached to The Iceman, a film that will be directed by Ariel Vromen that is eyeing a production start next summer. Natural Selection CEO Matty Beckerman comes to AFM with a rival project, on which he said he has just closed a deal for life rights of Kuklinski’s wife, Barbara, and Pat Kane, the cop who brought Kuklinski to justice. The project, based on the Philip Carlo book The Ice Man: Confessions Of A Mafia Contract Killer, is being scripted by American History X‘s David McKenna and has Mickey Rourke attached to play Kuklinski. Beckerman is producing and said his Natural Selection will fully fund a movie that will start production in the spring.  No director has yet been set. Read More »

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