Category: International

MUMBAI: Julien Temple better known for her direction in The Great Rock‘n‘Roll Swindle has aligned with Mike Downey and Sam Taylor‘s production house Film & Music Entertainment and will direct the company‘s $15 million art heist film Fake!

Avers Temple, “Fake! is a story of dramatic intrigue and excitement from the complex emotional triangle between the three main protagonists.There‘s an element of To Catch A Thief about what they do. 

“As becomes clear in his conversations with Welles, one of the most amazing illusions Elmyr maintained during all the years of his career as an art forger was that he was not a criminal and what he was doing was not a crime. He knew of course it was against the law but so was jaywalking or smoking a joint. What he did, unlike governments and politicians, didn‘t harm anyone else.”
 

MUMBAI: Helen Mirren will join Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman for Summit Entertainment‘s Red, a action thriller based on the WildStorm/DC Comics title originally written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Cully Hamner.

The film is about Paul Moses, a C.I.A. agent whose unique talent for killing took him around the world, from one hotspot to another, carrying out the deadly orders of his superiors. And when he retired, he wanted to put his bloody past behind him. But when a new administration takes over the White House, the powers that be decide that Moses knows too much, forcing him back into the game against the agency that trained him.  

Willis will play the retired CIA agent, Paul Moses. He must thwart a hit team sent by the new leader of the CIA (Freeman) intent upon tying up loose ends.
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Mirren will play Freeman‘s predecessor, Moses‘ former handler, with whom the agent has stayed in touch while living in seclusion. The size of Mirren‘s part and how much screen time she will have, if any, is as yet unknown.

Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian and directed by Robert Schwentke, Red is slated to shoot in Toronto and Louisiana.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the United States rights of Rodrigo García‘s Mother and Child from WME Global.

The film debuted at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was actively pursued by several US distributors.

The deal actually came together shortly after Toronto but took some time to close and marks yet another late buy out of the festival where at the time few deals actually took place.

Mother and Child stars Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington in three parallel stories that come together to emphasis the bond between mother and child. 

“We have known Rodrigo García for a long time,” said Sony Pictures Classics jointly in a statement, “first as the cinematographer of ‘Mi Vida Loca‘ in the early ‘90s, then as a writer and director, and have always been impressed with his incredible skill at creating roles for actors, especially for women.

“With Mother and Child, Rodrigo has managed to define characters that allow for career best performances for all of the actors he has cast in a film that we feel will connect with people all over the US We are excited to be working with him, his remarkable cast and his producers Julie Lynn and Lisa Maria Falcone.”

MUMBAI: Park Circus Films has signed a distribution deal with HanWay Films to theatrically release some of its library titles.
The deal includes films like Bernardo Bertolucci‘s The Last Emperor, Peter Weir‘s Picnic At Hanging Rock and Wings Of Desire.

Hanway, that has a 500-strong library including film collections from the British Film Institute, Merchant Ivory and the Recorded Picture Company will work with Park Circus to maximise the portfolio‘s theatrical potential.

Park Circus represents 10,500 library and has catalogue titles from a range of studios and independent clients. It issues 15,000 theatrical screening licenses every year.
 

MUMBAI: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the 82nd Academy Awards on 7 March at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Said Martin,”I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin.”

“I don‘t play the banjo but I‘m thrilled to be hosting the Oscars – it‘s the opportunity of a lifetime,” Baldwin, the double Emmy winning star of the TV hit 30 Rock, added.
“We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars,” show producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman said in a joint statement. 

“Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event,” they added.

Martin hosted the 73rd and 75th Academy Awards shows and earned an Emmy nomination for the former. He is currently touring with the bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers.

MUMBAI: Josh Berger has been appointed president and managing director of Warner Bros Entertainment Spain, from 1 December.

Berger will combine the management of all of Warner Bros Entertainment‘s business activities in Spain with his existing responsibilities as president and managing director of UK and Ireland, a role he has held since 2002.

In a broad role aimed at promoting transmedia opportunities and fostering third party ties, the executive will work closely with the local teams of the various Warner Bros business units in Spain, as well as executives at Warner Bros Pictures International, Warner Home Video, Warner Bros Digital Distribution, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros International Television Distribution, and Warner Bros Consumer Products.

Berger reports through Warner Bros executive vice-president of international Richard Fox to chairman and CEO Barry Meyer and president and COO Alan Horn.

MUMBAI: Capitalising on the growing popularity of films such as Mamma Mia! and High School Musical 3, LA-based American Cinema International (ACI) has lapped up global sales rights of Moonlight Serenade, a romantic musical, starring Amy Adams.

ACI will present the film‘s market premiere at AFM and then commence talks.

The film, produced by Anthony Mastromauro, is a story of a cloakroom attendant whose singing voice attracts a successful businessman.

Alec Newman also stars alongside Harriet Sansom Harris. Giancarlo Tallarico has directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay along with Jonathan Abrahams.
 

MUMBAI: Debut feature from Richard Ayoade, starring Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, and Sally Hawkins begins principal photography.

Production of Submarine, the feature film debut of writer/director Richard Ayoade commenced on 26 October. An adaptation of Joe Dunthorne‘s novel, the film stars Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, newcomer Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige and Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins.

A Warp Films production in association with Red Hour Films, Submarine is to be produced by Andy Steebing and Mark Herbert with Mary Burke. Shooting will take place in Cardiff for 7 weeks.

Submarine is a coming of age comedy set in Swansea following 15 year old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) through the impending break-up of his parents‘ marriage and his first relationship.

Submarine is a Warp Films production in association with Red Hour Films backed by Film4, the UK Film Council‘s New Cinema Fund, Wales Creative IP Fund and Film Agency Wales.
 

MUMBAI: Music film composer James Horner who is scoring Avatar has added singer Lisbeth Scott to his creative musical lineup for the James Cameron film.

In a recent interview, Fox Music executive Mike Knobloch described Horner‘s early music of Avatar as being “epic and hugely cinematic … music that transports us to another world … a brilliantly unique blend of traditional and contemporary, electronic elements that spans the entire spectrum of attitude and energy – from bombastic action to the delicate, romantic discovery of a new world.”

Of the last five years‘ top-grossing movies, Scott has been a featured vocalist in almost half like Passion of the Christ, Narnia, Shrek 2, Transformers and Munich.
 

MUMBAI: Production company Halcyon is auctioning off the rights of its Terminator franchise, indicating that bad days are not yet over and movie profits continue to be under pressure from falling DVD sales.

The news of the auction comes only a few weeks after the rights of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were sold for $60 million.

Terminator has evinced considerable interest within trade circles as it is a film franchise not controlled by a big studio. 

Sony Pictures and Warner Bros, which distributed the latest Terminator Salvation, are considering bids as is independent studio Summit Entertainment.

Last month, Halcyon hired FTI Capital Advisors to put the rights up for sale and manage the process. The auction to make new Terminator films will likely take place by January. Representatives of Halcyon have set their plans to sell off the rights to pay debts and recapitalize their company.

Later this month, Halcyon may choose a “stalking horse,” a potential buyer whose early bid puts it in first position and gives it exclusive access to perform due diligence. Any other company that wanted to buy the Terminator rights would then have to outbid the stalking horse.

Whoever buys Terminator would get rights to make future sequels as well as get Halcyon‘s remaining income from Salvation, which cost about $200 million to make and grossed $371 million worldwide.