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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5 2015
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Winehouse biopic tempts Rapace BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Noomi Rapace is in talks to play the late UK soul icon Amy Winehouse in a biopic that is gathering heat at AFM. August Rush director Kirsten Sheridan has written the script and is due to direct the feature, a CAA package co-repped by UTA that has a handful of sales companies and financiers circling. Producers are Ireland-based Subotica Films, producers of Jake Paltrow’s Young Ones and music biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side, and US outfit
City Entertainment, exec-producers on NBC mini-series Rosemary’s Baby. Music rights are in negotiation. Sheridan was Oscar nominated for 2002 drama In America, which she co-wrote with her father Jim Sheridan and sister Naomi. The script for Amy Winehouse (working title) comes hot on the heels of Asif Kapadia’s doc Amy, which has been a box-office and festival hit but also generated controversy for its portrayal of the relationship between Winehouse and
her father, Mitch, who is understood to be lining up a separate project dedicated to his daughter. Rapace will soon reprise her role
Banks flies with Rita Hayworth
Teresa Palmer, page 4
NEWS Berlin Syndrome First look at rising star Teresa Palmer in Cate Shortland’s latest feature » Page 4
FEATURE Digital dozen Screen profiles 12 websites seeking to change the way the film industry does business » Page 10
Chinese whispers Assessing the market for independent and arthouse releases in China » Page 24
SCREENINGS
» Page 42
Barks is Hilary Shor’s Everything BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Les Miserables star Samantha Barks, Jack Davenport (Pirates Of The Caribbean) and Kate Walsh (The Perks Of Being A Wallflower) are among new cast to join producer Hilary Shor’s (The Paperboy, Children Of Men) comedy drama Everything Carries Me To You. Production is due to get underway in London next March on the story of a young ballet dancer (Barks) who falls for a seductive photographer (Davenport), forcing
BY JEREMY KAY
Elizabeth Banks will play a Second World War photographer stranded on a Pacific Island in Rita Hayworth With A Hand Grenade, which Radiant Films International has introduced to AFM buyers. Art director and set designer Sloane U’Ren will direct the prestige adventure drama, which regular Coen brothers collaborator Robert Graf is producing. UTA Independent Film Group represents North American rights. Shooting is set to commence this spring on the story of Caroline Baker, a pioneering female war photographer who is shot down over a South Pacific island and finds herself marooned with only a Japanese soldier for company. Over the course of three decades, the unlikely pair go from being sworn enemies to reluctant allies as they endure their predicament. This is a banner year for Banks, who has earned plaudits for her performance in Love & Mercy. She also directed and starred in the $285m worldwide summer hit Pitch Perfect 2 and is on board to direct the third film in the franchise. “I am delighted to be partnering with veteran producer Robert Graf, who brings his years of experience working with the Coen brothers to this project,” said Radiant head Mimi Steinbauer. Banks is represented by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and attorney PJ Shapiro.
as Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott’s sequel to Prometheus and is reportedly set to play opposite Christian Bale in hot AFM package Enzo Ferrari. The Swedish-born actress has never shied away from challenging roles; she rose to fame as Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium trilogy and is committed to portraying Maria Callas in biopic Callas. Rapace is repped by CAA, Shelley Browning at Magnolia and attorney Howard Fishman at Hirsch Wallerstein.
TODAY
her to choose between her career and romance. Emma Holly Jones is set to make her feature debut on the film, which is also produced by Tom Butterfield (London Town). Freddie Fox, Ashley Madekwe and David O’Hara also star on the project, in part inspired by a Pablo Neruda poem. Carnaby handles international sales. “Samantha Barks and Jack Davenport bring a unique and captivating quality to our lead characters,” said Jones.
K5 clears path for Land Of Mine BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Mel Brooks and Mel B attended the buyers’ presentation for GFM Films’ AFM sales title Blazing Samurai this week. Both are voicing characters in the animated feature alongside Ricky Gervais as the villainous cat Ika Chu and Michael Cera as lead canine Hank. Open Road Films will release in the US on August 4, 2017. Sony Pictures International Releasing previously acquired several major territories.
Gotti bags UK, Spain, India deals Highland Film Group, here selling Arnold Schwarzenegger revenge drama 478, has closed key sales on crime biopic Gotti starring John Travolta, led by a deal with Lionsgate UK. Rights have also gone to CIS (Top Film), Scandinavia (Mislabel), Italy (MovieOn), Spain (Inopia), Latin America (Swen) and the Middle East,
India, Turkey and Greece (Italia). Further deals closed in South Africa (Ster Kinekor), ex-Yugoslavia (MCF), Indonesia (Prima) and Estonia (Prorom). Production is scheduled for early 2016 with Randall Emmett, George Furla and Marc Fiore producing, and Kevin Connolly directing. Jeremy Kay
Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur’s K5 has inked key deals on writerdirector Martin Zandvliet’s wellreceived Danish drama Land Of Mine. Zandvliet’s feature, which had already sold to Sony Pictures Classics for the US and Latin America, has sold to France (BAC), Italy (Notorious), Australia and New Zealand (Palace), Spain (A Contracorriente), Japan (Kino), the Middle East (Falcon) and Benelux (Paradiso), with a UK deal being finalised. Co-production territories Scandinavia and Germany are already set with Nordisk Film and Koch Media, respectively. Inspired by true events, Land Of Mine depicts a group of young German PoWs in Denmark who are forced to clear landmines from the Danish coastline. The film opened Toronto International Film Festi-
val’s Platform strand before playing at London, Rome and Tokyo, where last weekend the film’s rising lead actors Roland Moller (A Hijacking) and Louis Hofmann (Alone In Berlin) shared the best actor award. Mikael Rieks (Applause) produced for Nordisk Film Production with Malte Grunert (A Most Wanted Man) co-producing under his Amusement Park Film banner in association with K5 International. Backers include Denmark’s DFI. K5 partner and head of sales Carl Clifton said: “Land Of Mine is a brilliant film that has audiences on the edge of, and frequently out of, their seats from start to finish. It’s a simple, powerful story that is superbly told, wonderfully acted and incredibly moving. We anticipate closing out our remaining territories during AFM.”