Feature Cannes Buzz
The Better Angels
too far. The project features rising star Britt Robertson, who also stars in Warner Bros’ sci-fi Tomorrowland. The rest of the cast includes Justin Long, Christian Slater, Martin Sheen, Robert Patrick and Max Carver. Shoreline Entertainment is commencing talks on The Infinite Man, the SXSW title about a romantic scientist who discovers time travel and traps his lover in a self-repeating loop. Electric Entertainment is talking up the Sundance premiere The Better Angels from frequent Terrence Malick collaborator AJ Edwards. Jason Clarke, Diane Kruger, Brit Marling, Wes Bentley and Braydon Denney star in the little-known story of the young Abraham Lincoln. Continental Media is screening festival favourite Noble in which Sarah Greene plays real-life philanthropist Christina Noble,who overcame a childhood of privation to launch charities in aid of street children. Meyers Media Group will start sales on The B Team, starring John Cleese as the villain in a spy spoof featuring some of the original cast members of Baywatch. AMBI Distribution is handling David Petrucci’s Hope Lost, a sex-trafficking thriller starring Mischa Barton, Danny Trejo, Michael Madsen and Daniel Baldwin. Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg and Ron Livingston star in The End Of The Tour, which Fortitude International is representing. The story charts the relationship that developed when a Rolling Stone reporter accompanied the late novelist David Foster Wallace on a book tour. 108 Media is showcasing The Insect King, a drama starring Melissa George about a teenager and his father who vie for the attentions of the same woman. Double Dutch is in town with the drama 4 Minute Mile, about a student athlete from the inner city who prepares for the race of his life. Kelly Blatz, Richard Jenkins and Cam Gigandet star. Gravitas Ventures holds US rights. VMI Worldwide’s Cannes slate is headed by Hellion, starring Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis and Josh Wiggins. The drama, which premiered at Sundance, is about a wild teen and his emotionally absent father who try to regain custody of the youngest son in the family.
34 Screen International May 14, 2014
Bill
Brooklyn
UK By Andreas Wiseman
David Garrett’s Mister Smith is in Cannes with Drake Doremus’s Equals, a futuristic romantic thriller set to star Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult. Written by Nathan Parker, whose credits include Moon, and with Ridley Scott as one of the producers, the project is due to start shooting in Japan and Singapore in August. Mister Smith’s slate also includes Russell Crowe’s directorial debut The Water Diviner and the Jesse Owens biopic Race. Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar’s Embankment Films is on the Croisette with the comedy drama Prima, starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, about a mother who will stop at nothing to realise her daughter’s ballet dreams, and Bryan Bertino horror title There Are Monsters, set to star Elisabeth Moss. Kate Winslet has been joined on Jocelyn Moorhouse’s Australian drama The Dressmaker by Liam Hemsworth, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki. Protagonist Pictures is introducing
Testament Of Youth
buyers to Andrea Arnold’s first US-set film American Honey, about ‘mag crews’ — travelling magazine sales crews — and Nick Love’s untitled US project starring Stephen Dorff, about a reluctant superhero. It will also be screening the first footage of James Kent’s period drama Testament Of Youth, produced by BBC Films and David Heyman and starring Alicia Vikander. Harold Van Lier’s eOne International is set to entice buyers with Gavin Hood’s drone-warfare thriller Eye In The Sky, set to star Colin Firth, and John McNamara’s buzz script Trumbo, set to be directed by Jay Roach and star Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren. eOne also has Competition duo Maps To The Stars and The Captive, directed by David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan respectively. HanWay Films is in Cannes with the first footage of three highly anticipated dramas: Todd Haynes’ Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, Rodrigo Garcia’s Last Days In the Desert, starring Ewan McGregor, John Crowley’s Brooklyn and Julian Jarrold’s Girls’ Night Out with Sarah Gadon and Bel Powley.
Alison Thompson’s newly minted Sunray Films is introducing buyers to
Vincent Perez’s Alone In Berlin, Achim von Borries’ English-language adaptation of Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel about a couple in the German Resistance in Berlin under the rise of the Nazis. The film’s stellar production team includes former Focus Features CEO James Schamus and Germany’s X-Filme. Thompson is also handling Mike Leigh’s Competition title Mr Turner and Asif Kapadia’s untitled Amy Winehouse documentary. Independent’s Cannes slate includes new family animation A Bollywoof Tale from Racing Stripes director Frederik Du Chau. It will also be showing the first footage of Bill, a family comedy about how ‘Bill’ Shakespeare became William, and Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin’s comedy What We Did On Our Holiday, starring Rosamund Pike and David Tennant. WestEnd Films’ line-up is headed by A Perfect Day, the English-language debut of Fernando Leon De Aranoa in which Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko and Mélanie Thierry star as conflict-zone aid workers. Kanu Behl’s »
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