AFM buzz: UK sellers

Pathé come to AFM with first footage of Ryuhei Kitamura’s No One Lives, the Luke Evans-fronted thriller about a ruthless criminal gang who take a young couple hostage but are then hunted down by a seasoned killer. There are first market screenings for Francis Ford Coppola’s thriller Twixt, starring Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern and Elle Fanning; and French comedy Welcome Aboard with actor/comedian Franck Dubosc and Valérie Lemercier.

K5 will be showing buyers a new promo of Vehicle 19, the Paul Walker-starring thriller set on the streets of Johannesburg. The film, which Mukunda Michael Dewil directs from his own Black List script, counts Los Angeles-based Peter Safran (Buried) as one of its producers. The redemptive action thriller is now in post. Also, there has been new cast added to Bille August’s Night Train To Lisbon, with Vanessa Redgrave, Bruno Ganz, Mélanie Laurent, Christopher Lee, Lena Olin, Martina Gedeck and Jack Huston now set to star with Jeremy Irons. The adaptation of Pascal Mercier’s bestseller will shoot starting in March 2012. And K5 has also taken international rights to Sundance audience award-winning documentary Buck, about horse whisperer Buck Brannaman.

Protagonist has a new 3D promo reel to entice buyers to StreetDance 2 (the reel screens November 3 by invitation only). The sequel to the breakout hit re-unites directors Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini with stars George Sampson, Flawless and other top dancers, as the backdrop expands globally. Protagonist also has Nick Love’s The Sweeney shooting this month, with Ray Winstone and Ben Drew (aka singer Plan B) leading the cast. Protagonist also has the first market screening of Lynn Shelton’s Humpday follow-up Your Sister’s Sister, starring Emily Blunt, after a strong reception in Toronto.

Goldcrest is introducing Penelope Spheeris’ US comedy High School Sweethearts, produced by Sara Risher, and will offer first screenings of Robbie Pickering’s SXSW hit Natural Selection, picked up by Cinema Guild in the US, along with Dana Lustig’s UK thriller A Thousand Kisses Deep with Jodie Whittaker and Dougray Scott.

Intandem Films will be presenting Kari Skogland’s next feature Prisoner Of Tehran, the true story of a 16-year-old Christian girl forced to convert to Islam and marry a prison guard who rescued her from an Iranian firing squad. There will also be a market debut for The True Confessions Of Charlotte Doyle, Danny DeVito’s feature adaptation of Avi’s historical fiction novel about a young girl’s dangerous high-seas adventure aboard a ship with a mutinous crew, featuring Pierce Brosnan and Morgan Freeman. Jules Stewart’s drama Kill, starring Goran Visnjic, and Simon Aboud’s thriller Comes A Bright Day are both in post.

HanWay has Bernardo Bertolucci’s Me And You (Io e Te) shooting now. The latest from the Italian master stars newcomers Jacopo Olmo Antinori and Tea Falco, about a troubled 14-year-old boy who hides out from his family in the basement until his half sister disturbs him. HanWay is also selling Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, the Toronto Midnight Madness hit thriller about a family reunion gone wrong. It has already sold to more than 30 territories.

Bankside’s new projects include Mark Hartley’s sci-fi thriller Patrick to star Richard E Grant, Rachel Griffiths and Sharni Vinson. In pre-production, that story is about a psychiatric patient with telepathic powers who becomes obsessed with his new nurse. Also, Bankside is handling sales for its partner Killer Films’ gothic vampire story Innocence which has Abigail Breslin and Chloe Sevigny set to star. And since its Toronto world premiere, Michael Winterbottom has finished a slightly trimmed edit of his India-set drama Trishna, starring Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed (it has already sold to Sundance Selects for the US and Artificial Eye for the UK).

Independent has Uwantme2killhim?, which started shooting for director Andrew Douglas just last week. The thriller, adapted from a true story reported in Vanity Fair, is about teenagers who meet online and develop an intense relationship that leads to violence. The cast features Jamie Blackley (Snow White & The Huntsman, Toby Regbo (One Day) and Joanne Froggatt (TV’s Downton Abbey) and producers are Bryan Singer, Steve Golin, Peter Heslop and Simon Crocker. Also, Noel Clarke produces, writes and stars in Storage 24, which is now in post and has a promo available. The film is set in a self-storage facility, as a mystery predator hunts a group of friends. The cast also includes Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Laura Haddock.

Ealing Metro’s hot projects include Fast Girls, set to shoot in mid-November, about female runners in a story pitched as StreetDance meets Bend It Like Beckham. Damian Jones (The Iron Lady) produces. StudioCanal has pre-bought for the UK and a number of other international pre-sales have been done. Ealing Metro also has footage to show of Australian musical comedy Goddess (starring Ronan Keating and Laura Michelle Kelly), which it is introducing to buyers at the AFM. And the company offers a new promo of Trap For Cinderella, which has already sold in a number of key territories (Lionsgate has UK rights). The psychological thriller, from what Ealing calls the “formidable team” of director Iain Softley and producer Robert Jones, is set for delivery in early 2012. Tuppence Middleton and Alexandra Roach star.

SC Films is handling The Nut House 3D, a family animation film from the producers John H Williams (Shrek), John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda) and Arc Productions (Gnomeo & Juliet). The project is now in pre-production with full production to start in January. Also, now in post, SC handles Tower Block about building tenants being tormented by a sniper. The hot young UK cast is led by Jack O’Connell, Sheridan Smith and Russell Tovey.

WestEnd will be teasing Andy De Emmony’s comedy-horror Love Bite about a werewolf in a UK seaside town, currently in production, and also offers a first market screening for Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert Nobbs starring Glenn Close. Drama A Late Quartet starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken and Catherine Keener is set for a late 2011 delivery. West End also has Israeli foreign Oscar contender Footnote, which will be released in the US by Sony Pictures Classics.

Salt is introducing recent pick-up Skylab, an Australian thriller set on board a NASA space station during the Cold War. Directed by Rupert Glasson and produced by David Lightfoot and James Vernon, the $7.5m budgeted sci-fi has sold to Splendid for German-speaking Europe and Benelux. There is a market debut for Hadi Hajaig’s thriller Cleanskin, in which Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling and James Fox star. Also, Salt has early results of 3D parkour camera tests for Twist, the energetic Oliver Twist update to be directed by Matthew Parkhill. Completed comedy Dirty Girl starring Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich and William H Macy, already distributed by The Weinstein Company in the US, gets a debut market screening and has been re-edited since Toronto 2010.

Timeless Films presents Spanish 3D animation Justin & The Knights Of Valour, the story of a young boy’s quest to become a knight, featuring an all-star voice cast led by Freddie Highmore, Saoirse Ronan and Antonio Banderas. Timeless is also giving a market screening debut to completed German 3D animation, Vicky And The Treasure Of The Gods from director Christian Ditter.

AV Pictures has the first market screenings of Robert Heath’s teen thriller Truth Or Dare as well as recent BFI London Film Festival premiere Sket, a girl-gang thriller directed by Nirpal Bhogal for Revolver’s Gunslinger production division. Ashley Walters is among the cast for Sket, which has already sold to the likes of Wildside for France and Tiberius for Germany. Also, shooting starts later this month for Craig Viveiros’ road trip thriller The Liability, starring Tim Roth, Jack O’Connell and Talulah Riley.

Tristan Whalley’s Goalpost brings two new projects in development: Mixtape, an Australian romantic-drama to be directed by Maia Horniak, and Chinese Whispers, a documentary in development about two Chinese and Canadian teenagers who discover their lives are inextricably linked.

Gristle and gore are on the menu in Jinga Films’ $5m-budgeted US horror Bad Meat, which gets its market debut along with Michael Rymer’s Australian comedy-drama Face To Face about bullying in the workplace.