You are viewing the archive: “The Oranges”

Hot Red Band Trailer: ‘The Oranges’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday September 12, 2012 @ 9:22pm PDTTags: Catherine Keener, Hugh Laurie, The Oranges

Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt and Allison Janney play couples in the relationship dramedy directed by Julian Farino from a screenplay by Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss. The Oranges also features Leighton Meester, Adam Brody and Alia Shawkat. The ATO Pictures release is scheduled to open October 5th:

Comments (9)

Toronto: ATO Pictures Plucks ‘The Oranges’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday September 16, 2011 @ 4:35pm PDTTags: 2011 Toronto Film Festival, The Oranges
Mike Fleming

Toronto, CANADA (September 16, 2011) – NY based ATO PICTURES proudly announced today that it has acquired all North American rights to THE ORANGES, one of the most buzzed about Toronto titles directed by Julian Farino making his feature film debut.

Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Alia Shawkat, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester star.

David and Paige Ostroff (Laurie and Keener) and Terry and Cathy Walling (Platt and Janney) are best friends and neighbors living on Orange Drive in suburban New Jersey. Their comfortable existence goes awry when prodigal daughter Nina Ostroff (Meester), newly broken up with her fiancé Ethan (Sam Rosen), returns home for

Read More »

Comments (7)

Toronto: Sellers Rush To Get Into Oscar Race But Buyers Want Them To Slow Down

By PETE HAMMOND | Monday September 12, 2011 @ 12:50am PDTTags: Albert Nobbs, Barrymore, Brad Pitt, Friends With Kids, George Clooney, Gerard Butler, Glenn Close, Killer Elite, Leonardo DiCaprio, Machine Gun Preacher, Michael Barker, Open Road, Rampart, Relativity Media, Roman Polanski, Shame, Sony Pictures Classics, The Oranges, Tom Bernard
Pete Hammond

The 9/11 anniversary was a strong memory in Toronto because it happened right in the middle of 2001′s film festiva – even though it was business as usual today. In fact the pace of this place just seems to be quickening. Deals, as Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports, were slow to percolate but may be picking up. Most buyers I talk to are irritated by some sellers’ insistence that their film be released this year in time for Oscar consideration. That’s a tall order and leaves little time for creating a marketing campaign, much less an awards strategy. Nevertheless, that was one of the demands made by the sellers of the controversial Shame during negotiations. Fox Searchlight agreed, others didn’t. In fact I was told that Sony Pictures Classics, which wanted the picture, came up with a smart strategy they compared to The Weinstein Company’s for Colin Firth. That consisted of Firth doing a lot of campaigning and earning a nomination for A Single Man in 2010, thus laying the groundwork for his The King’s Speech win the next year. SPC was going to put Michael Fassbender out there and get him recognition for their November release of David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method and then release Shame later in 2012 for a one-two punch that the Academy would notice. No go. The sales people behind Shame insisted it be released this year, thereby throwing the Venice Film Festival’s Best Actor winner into an already overcrowded awards race that among others includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, and Leonardo DiCaprio who are better known — at least at this point.

One former studio head-turned-producer complained loudly to me today that this kind of strategy is not necessarily what’s good for the movie and asked, “Isn’t that what we should be concerned with over anything else?” For example, Open Road’s Tom Ortenberg is here with his first release Killer Elite but is not rushing into a year-end release if it might end up hurting the bottom line. “Isn’t the 2012 Oscar race just as good as this year’s?” he asked. He might consider putting the Liam Neeson film The Grey into a year-end qualifying run since Neeson’s performance is said to be so strong. But only if it was in the best interest of the film. When he was at Lionsgate, Ortenberg acquired Crash at Toronto but held it for a May release. Then he did a now-legendary and successful Oscar campaign almost 1 1/2 years after the Toronto buy. The same strategy worked for The Hurt Locker two years ago. Both went on to win Best Picture.

Nevertheless, several films for sale in Toronto are said to be eyeing a 2011 release in order to get into the Oscar race. These include Luc Besson’s The Lady, which premieres Monday night and which I have already seen. It contains two powerhouse performances from Michelle Yeoh who could jump into the lead actress race. There’s also David Thewlis for Supporting Actor. The Lady will certainly be part of any sales discussion, but I know of at least one mini-major who would like the film but just not for this year. As I mentioned yesterday, Barrymore with its sensational title performance from Christopher Plummer also wants to make a deal that includes a 2011 year-end release. Also director Zhang Yimou’s epic The Flowers of War (formerly Nanking) starring Oscar-winner Christian Bale had a 20-minute footage presentation here and hopes to get a domestic deal in place in time for a possible year-end run at Oscar. I am told it could certainly be ready what with its debut in Beijing in December. Read More »

Comments (7)