Kerry Washington to star in movie drama ‘Perfect Mother’
Film
Japan’s Aya Pro, eOne bet on Afghanistan war drama
LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (RTRS): Sales house Latido Films has closed
two distribution deals on Adolfo Martinez’s “Rescue Under Fire,” one
of Spain’s building body of war films, and one of the most ambitious.
Tokyo’s Aya Pro has pre-bought Japanese rights; in Spain, the film
opens wide on March 10, handled by eOne.
On the eve of Berlin’s European Film Market, “Rescue” has sparked
a bidding war from distributors in China and Korea; companies from
France, Italy and Latin America, among other territories, are showing
strong interest, according to Latido Films CEO Antonio Saura.
“Rescue Under Fire” is set up at Tornasol Films (“The Secret in
Their Eyes”).
Based on events that happened in 2012 in the north of Bala Murghab
in Afghanistan, the pic follows the crew of a medical helicopter that
suffered an accident while aiding a Spanish-American division. The
Spanish Army has but one night to organize the rescue, while Taliban
troops started surrounding the crew.
Ariadna Gil (“Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed”), Roberto Alamo, a
Goya Award winner last Saturday night for Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “May
God Save Us,” Antonio Garrido (“Fin”), and Raul Merida (“Tres 60”) star.
Movie marks Adolfo Martinez’s directorial debut after working in
L.A. as a storyboard artist on Disney’s “The Jungle Book” and second
unit director in Warner-Columbia’s “Terminator: Salvation.”
Pubcaster RTVE and Telefonica’s paybox Movistar Plus pre-bought
“Rescue,” which has been supported by the Spanish Army.
❑
❑
❑
Kerry Washington is in final talks to star in and produce the movie
drama “The Perfect Mother” for Sony’s TriStar division.
The studio has preemptively acquired movie rights to Aimee Molloy’s debut novel, which recently sold in a huge deal to HarperCollins
for more than $1 million. Amy Pascal is also producing with Rachel
O’Connor.
Washington is expected to star and produce under her Simpson
Street production banner. Hannah Minghella will oversee the project
with Nicole Brown.
The story centers on members of a mommy-and-me group swinging
into action to investigate the kidnapping of one of their babies — but
things aren’t exactly what they seem. Through the process of discovering the truth, damaging secrets are revealed, marriages are tested, and
friendships are created and destroyed.
Washington is in her sixth season as the lead actress on ABC’s
“Scandal,” portraying political consultant Olivia Pope. She played
Anita Hill in HBO’s “Confirmation” last year. Her most recent big
screen appearances were in 2012’s “Django Unchained” and 2013’s
“Peeples.”
Pascal’s producing credits include “Ghostbusters” and the upcoming
“Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
CAA brokered the rights deal on behalf of Molloy, who is represented by Elisabeth Weed at the Book Group for publishing. Washington
is represented by CAA, Katherine Atkinson at Washington Square
Arts, and attorney Gretchen Rush at Hansen, Jacobson. The news was
first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
❑
❑
❑
Elizabeth Debicki is in talks to co-star opposite Viola Davis and
Cynthia Erivo in the New Regency heist thriller “Widows,” directed
by Steve McQueen.
“Moonlight” actor Andre Holland is also on board. “Gone Girl” screenwriter and novelist Gillian Flynn will write the script with McQueen.
Based on the 1983 British miniseries about a caper gone wrong, the story follows four armed robbers who are killed in a failed heist attempt, leaving their widows to finish the job. Debicki would play one of the widows.
The film will be produced by McQueen, and Iain Canning and
Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, who teamed with McQueen on
“Shame” and also produced the best picture Oscar-winner “The King’s
Speech.” Film4 is co-financing with New Regency.
The movie marks McQueen’s first feature since winning the best
picture Academy Award for “12 Years a Slave” in 2014.
Debicki’s star has risen quickly since breaking out in “The Great
Gatsby” as Tobey Maguire’s love interest. She followed that up with
key roles in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” “Macbeth,” and “Everest”
and landed the female lead in AMC’s critically acclaimed limited series “The Night Manager.”
She can be seen next in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”
and the new untitled “Cloverfield” pic, a.k.a. “God Particle.” She was
also recently seen on stage in London in “The Red Barn.”
Features
Variety
This Feb 24, 2016 file photo shows Adele onstage at the Brit Awards 2016 at the 02 Arena in London. Adele is nominated for Grammy Awards for best album, best song and record of the year. (AP)
— See Page 21
Film
FRIDAY-SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10-11, 2017
Fest showcases films on artists, refugees
LOS ANGELES: Lena Headey
and Nick Frost will join Dwayne
Johnson in the wrestling drama
“Fighting With My Family,” based
on the story of WWE star Paige.
Stephen Merchant is directing
from his own script, inspired by
the Channel 4 documentary “The
Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family.” Production companies are
Seven Bucks Productions, which
Johnson co-founded with Dany
Garcia, Misher Films, WWE
Studios, and Film4.
Kevin Misher of Misher Films
will produce alongside WWE
Studios president Michael Luisi.
Merchant will executive produce
with Johnson, who will play
an unspecified role. Florence
Pugh will star as Paige and Jack
Lowden will play her brother.
Principal photography is
scheduled to start in Los Angeles
and London this month. Alex
Walton’s Bloom is selling the
project at the Berlin Film Festival
this week. WME Global represents
US rights. (RTRS)
❑
❑
❑
LOS ANGELES: A spoof of the Star
Wars franchise is in development
with Jason Friedberg and Aaron
Seltzer, whose credits include
the Scary Movie franchise, “Epic
Movie” and “Vampires Suck.”
The duo will write and direct
the project, titled “Star Worlds
Episode XXXIVE=MC2: The
Force Awakens The Last Jedi
Who Went Rogue.” Covert Media’s CEO Paul Hanson (“District
9”) is producing the film alongside
Broken Road Productions’ Todd
Garner (“True Memoirs of an
International Assassin”).
The film is currently in pre-production targeting a fall shoot. “Star
Worlds” is being fully financed
by Covert Media who will launch
worldwide sales on the film at the
Berlin Film Festival. (RTRS)
❑
❑
❑
LOS ANGELES: The plot of the
upcoming “Star Wars: The Last
Jedi” is one of most tightly kept
secrets in Hollywood.
But that hasn’t stopped “Star
Wars” superfan Josh Gad from
grilling (on camera) his “Murder
BIFF gets into swing with ‘Django’
BERLIN, Feb 9, (Agencies): The Berlin International
Film Festival (BIFF) opens Thursday with the world
premiere of “Django”, a biopic about Gypsy-jazz great
Django Reinhardt focused on the little-known story of
his family’s persecution by the Nazis.
The French production is one of 18 movies vying
for the coveted Golden Bear, which will be awarded
February 18 by a jury led by Hollywood director Paul
Verhoeven (“RoboCop”, “Elle”).
“Django” marks the directorial debut of Etienne Comar, a screenwriter and producer behind hits such as
“… and Men” and “My King” and co-producer of the
award-winning film about radical Islam “Timbuktu”.
A virtuoso guitarist and composer who shot to global
renown with his delicate melodies, Reinhardt was a
member of the Sinti minority and was forced to flee
German-occupied Paris in 1943.
Festival director Dieter Kosslick called the movie a
“poignant tale of survival”.
“It is also a wonderful story about a man who created
his own world... in which the greatness of his music
allowed us to forget the circumstances under which it
was born,” he said.
The film stars Reda Kateb, who appeared with Viggo
Mortensen in the Algeria-set war drama “Far From
Men”.
Comar told AFP that Reinhardt’s tragic aspect comes
from being a “character blinded by his music, who
doesn’t see the world changing, in which the war sneaks
up on him and only then does he finally see what is
happening.”
The 11-day Berlinale, Europe’s first major cinema
showcase of the year, will screen nearly 400 movies
from 70 countries.
It is the only big festival that opens all its featured
movies to the public. Movie buffs camped out overnight Monday to nab the first tickets as they went on
sale.
In keeping with its long post-war tradition, the
on the Orient Express” costar
Daisy Ridley about the plot details. (Ridley plays one of the main
protagonists, Rey, in the new “Star
Wars” films).
Gad’s first attempt to extract
information Episode VIII began
two weeks ago. He invited Ridley
into his trailer.
“Who are the last Jedi,” Gad
asked, referring to the film’s title.
event will mix arthouse cinema from European veterans including Poland’s Agnieszka Holland (“Europa
Europa”), Britain’s Sally Potter, Germany’s Volker
Schloendorff, previous Golden Bear winner Calin Peter Netzer of Romania and Aki Kaurismaki of Finland
with new features from Brazil, South Korea, China and
Senegal.
Competition
The latest Wolverine instalment of the X-Men superhero franchise “Logan” starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick
Stewart and Richard E. Grant will have its world premiere.
Hollywood actor Stanley Tucci (“The Devil Wears
Prada”) will unveil his new biopic about Swiss artist
Alberto Giacometti, “Final Portrait” starring Australian
Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush.
Potter (“Orlando”), one of four female directors in
competition, pulled together a cast including Patricia
Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Kristin Scott Thomas and Timothy Spall for the comedy “The Party” set at an MP’s
London soiree.
Richard Gere stars with Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Rebecca Hall and Chloe Sevigny in the thriller
“The Dinner” by US director Oren Moverman (the
screenwriter behind “Love & Mercy” and “I’m Not
There”), an adaptation of the Dutch novel by Herman
Koch about two families with an awful secret.
While in town, Gere will also meet with Angela
Merkel to discuss his long-running work on the campaign for Tibetan rights, following talks the German
chancellor held last year with George Clooney and his
human rights lawyer wife Amal about Europe’s refugee influx.
As the most politically minded of the big festivals,
stars are expected to use its stage to sound off on global
affairs, particularly US President Donald Trump’s disputed travel ban.
Organisers said the Berlinale, which is heavily spon-
“We’re not doing this,” a flustered Ridley responded. “I can’t
ask you about ‘Frozen 2’,” she
added, referencing the upcoming
sequel to Disney’s 2013 hit in
which Gad voices Olaf. (RTRS)
❑
❑
❑
Headey
Gad
LOS ANGELES: Berenice Bejo,
the Oscar-nominated actress of
“The Artist,” is set to star in “The
sored by the German government, would send a message of “cultural diversity to fight populist over-simplification”.
“There is nothing that those who owe their power
to playing on vague fears and base instincts are more
intimidated by than the powers of art: to move people, break taboos and silence, and awaken a desire
for a better world,” Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said.
Last year the Golden Bear went to Italian refugee
documentary “Fire at Sea” from a jury led by Meryl
Streep. It is nominated for an Academy Award this
month.
A legendary jazz guitarist on the run from the Nazis,
a family trapped in a Syrian apartment as bombs rain
down, and a shooting at a Madrid bar - those are some
of the roughly 400 stories that will hit screens at this
year’s Berlin Film Festival.
The film by French producer-turned-director Etienne
Comar is one of many dealing with social or political
issues, not an unusual situation for Berlin, according to
Scott Roxborough of The Hollywood Reporter.
“They like to be the most political of the big film festivals and that’s definitely going to be the case again
this year,” he said.
Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick has said this year’s
festival will describe the “daily apocalypse” we live
through, with many directors using the past to try and
explain the unsettling present.
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, famed for films such
as “Basic Instinct” and “RoboCop”, heads the jury that
will decide which of the 18 films in competition will
win Golden and Silver Bears.
Roxborough said documentaries were getting a lot of
attention this year.
One documentary is in competition: “Beuys” about
German conceptual artist Joseph Beuys whose work
was rubbished in Germany but celebrated in an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Extraordinary Journey of the
Fakir,” an adventure-fantasy film
directed by “Starbuck” helmer
Ken Scott. TF1 Studio is selling
the film.
One of the most ambitious
English-language titles on the
slate of the recently rebranded
TF1 Studios, “The Extraordinary
Journey of the Fakir” will also
topline Indian star Dhanush, Erin
Moriarty, Barkhad Abdi, Laurent Lafitte, and Abel Jafri.
“The Extraordinary Journey of
the Fakir” was initially set to be
directed by “Persepolis” helmer
Marjane Satrapi. Scott came on
board a few months ago to rework
the script and direct the movie,
which is scheduled to begin shooting in May in Mumbai, Paris,
Brussels, and Rome. (RTRS)