CANNES BUZZ THE LOWDOWN Hot titles and sizzling deals are expected on projects at various stages of production in the Marché. Here we profile the pick of the bunch for which buyers should be on the lookout BUZZ about a pair of detectives who strive to NORTH AMERICA prevent a boy’s wish, that his sister will be swallowed by a black hole, from becoming a reality. Nu Image arrives with worldwide By Jeremy Kay rights to Escobar, starring Javier Bardem as the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and Sierra/Affinity has boarded international Penelope Cruz as his love interest. rights to Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Insiders sells Mustang director Deniz Molly’s Game to star Idris Elba and Jes- Gamze Erguven’s English-language sica Chastain. eOne and The Mark Gor- debut Kings, a Los Angeles riots story don Company finance the story of ‘The starring Halle Berry as a protective Poker Princess’ Molly Bloom and Gordon mother in South Central. produces with former Sony Pictures The Weinstein Company will com- Entertainment head Amy Pascal. WME mence sales on animation The Nut Job 2, American Wrestler: The Wizard Global and CAA represent US rights. which Open Road distributes in the US. Lionsgate International reunites with FilmNation and Open Road Interna- A Monster Calls and The Impossible direc- tional hit the Croisette with Show Dogs tor JA Bayona, who will serve as execu- from Open Road Films and Riverstone tive producer on Marrowbone. Bayona’s Pictures. Raja Gosnell, of Scooby-Doo and regular screenwriter Sergio G Sanchez The Smurfs fame, will direct the family will make his feature directorial debut on adventure about a police dog who helps the psychological thriller about a young his handler thwart an attack on a prestig- man and his siblings in a sprawling fam- ious dog show. Production is scheduled ily manor plagued by a sinister presence. for a September start ahead of an Octo- Sales veteran Kim Fox arrives on the ber 13, 2017, US release via Open Road. Croisette in her role as MadRiver Pictures Voltage Pictures is kicking off sales on partner and head of international with Status Update, a Millennials-skewing Why We’re Killing Gunther, which will star story from Offspring Entertainment and Arnold Schwarzenegger as an arrogant Canada’s Brightlight Pictures with a cast The Fixer hitman whose peers gang up to take him led by Disney Channel star and musi- out. UTA Independent Film Group repre- cian Ross Lynch. Shooting begins in Toni Kalem is directing the film, which is ing a big studio production. Myriad will sents US rights. June in Vancouver on the story, based on the novel by Lisa Zeidner. show first footage. Good Universe is showcasing the described as Big meets 17 Again. China’s Covert Media has drama Ophelia to Radiant Films International is in town romantic drama Mudbound, which is set DNA Pictures and Heyi Capital are co- star Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley, with American Wrestler: The Wizard, a to star Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, financing after acquiring Chinese-lan- while Visit Films has the completed completed drama starring William Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell. It is guage remake rights. thriller Always Shine with Mackenzie Fichtner and newcomer George Kos- the story of two families pursuing their Richard Gere will star as a psychologist Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald. turos about a bullied teen who joins the dreams in the Mississippi Delta after the with a potentially career-defining case in XYZ Films is selling Brawl In Cell high-school wrestling team. Second World War. Three Christs. Jon Avnet will direct. High- Block 99, which stars Vince Vaughn as a The Solution Entertainment Group is Bloom will kick off sales on another land Film Group sells international and former boxer slung into prison where his beginning sales on Anna Dressed In Blood, post-Second World War drama, The Out- CAA represents US rights. enemies force him to commit acts of vio- based on the young-adult novel about a sider from Martin Zandvliet, the highly Foresight Unlimited arrives with lence. WME Global handles North ghost hunter confronting the spirit of a regarded Danish director of Land Of drama The Last Full Measure to star Scott American sales. 1958 murder victim who kills anyone dar- Mine. Jared Leto stars as an imprisoned Eastwood and Ed Harris. Laurence Fish- Penelope Cruz stars in Fernando True- ing to enter her home. Maddie Hasson US soldier who is released with the help of burne is in final negotiations and Morgan ba’s 1950s-set comedy The Queen Of and Cameron Monaghan will star. his Yakuza cellmate and enters the murky Freeman is in discussions to join the cast. Spain, which is being sold by Myriad Pic- Content Media is talking up the docu- criminal underworld to repay his debt. Fortitude International is on the Croi- tures. The sequel to Trueba’s 1998 The mentary Pistorius, about South African IM Global arrives with Headless Pro- sette with Layover, a drama that will star Girl Of Your Dreams, the film is about a Olympic hero turned convicted killer ductions’ Wish Police, a family animation Penelope Cruz as a travelling saleswoman sultry Spanish film star who sets out to Oscar Pistorius. The film is now shooting from The Book Of Life producers Reel FX on the verge of a nervous breakdown. rescue a friend after he is kidnapped dur- and investigates the truth about the man» 24 Screen International at Cannes May 11, 2016 www.screendaily.com CANNES BUZZ THE LOWDOWN as well as the reputation of his country Cinema Management Group is confi - for segregation and violent crime. dent the response generated by 70 mil- Charlotte Mickie and her Mongrel lion-plus views of the trailer for ‘painted International team are selling Ian Olds’ animation’ Loving Vincent will translate Tribeca title The Fixer, about a former into further international sales in Cannes. fixer for US journalists in Afghanistan The drama about Vincent van Gogh’s who relocates to small-town America and fi nal months is screening in the market. becomes embroiled in a mystery. Melissa Epic Pictures has Day Of Reckoning, a Leo, James Franco, Rachel Brosnahan, post-apocalyptic story now shooting in Thomas Jay Ryan and Dominic Rains Los Angeles. The story takes place 15 star. CAA has North American rights. years after a hellish one-day assault on Bleiberg Entertainment is in town mankind by demonic forces that has left with Predilection, based on a screenplay humans questioning when the next wave written by The Birth Of A Nation star and will come. Joel Novoa directs. director Nate Parker. It is about two con- Concourse Media has international victs who plan an elaborate bank heist in rights to Jeff Baena’s dark comedy The Rio de Janeiro. Filming is scheduled to Little Hour starring Alison Brie, John C start in November. The Queen Of Spain Reilly and Molly Shannon. AMBI Distribution has Antonio Ban- The Little Film Company arrives with deras, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Piper thriller Bad Blood, about a woman on the Perabo in the thriller Black Butterfly. run from a killer in a mountain resort. Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Xavier Samuel and Morgan Griffi n star. AMBI Group and Silvio Muraglia’s Para- Toronto’s Raven Banner will screen dox Studios are fi nancing and producing SXSW exorcism comedy Another Evil, the fi lm about a screenwriter who is taken and Lightning Entertainment has com- hostage. Production is underway in Italy. pleted sci-fi drama The Summerland Pro- Film Sales Company has picked up ject with Ed Begley Jr. worldwide sales rights to Cannes Classics MPI Media Group has acquired inter- selection Midnight Return: The Story Of national sales rights to Martin Owen’s Billy Hayes And Turkey, in which Oliver Slamdance selection Let’s Be Evil, about Stone, who won an Oscar for theMidnight an advanced learning programme for Express screenplay, director Alan Parker gifted children that sees events spiral out and Hayes himself recount the fi lm’s sen- of control. IFC Films has US rights. sational reception following its 1978 Bob’s Your Uncle is selling Jorva world premiere in Cannes, and Hayes The Fixer Entertainment Productions’ Being Char- tries to return to Turkey to rebuild bridges. lie, directed by Rob Reiner. Nick Robin- Hannibal Classics screens Second son, Common and Cary Elwes star in the World War survival story USS Indianapo- drama about an addict and son of an lis: Men Of Courage starring Nicolas actor-turned-politician on the road to Cage, Tom Sizemore and Thomas Jane. self-discovery and acceptance. Double Dutch International has the Seville International will be talking up animation Spark featuring a voice cast of Holocaust drama Hana’s Suitcase, about a Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon, Patrick survivor and entrepreneur who must Stewart and Hilary Swank. revisit memories of Auschwitz and dis- Arclight Films represents thriller Bad cuss his sister’s fate to help a passionate Girl starring Sara West, while Clay educator create a Holocaust exhibit. Epstein’s new Film Mode Entertainment Ascot Elite holds German-speaking right. handles with Arclight the First World Cohen Media Group is selling world- War rom-com The Angel Makers, starring wide rights on a 4k-restored version of Christina Hendricks and Emily Watson. Howards End, the classic Merchant Ivory The Exchange will be talking up Loving Vincent drama starring Anthony Hopkins and Sundance hit doc Gleason, while Shore- Emma Thompson. line has family adventure The Boat Archstone Distribution arrives in Builder, starring Christopher Lloyd as a town with Instant Death, starring Lou recluse who befriends a bullied orphan.