AFM buzz: US sellers

Now that Paramount has locked up domestic rights to The Wolf Of Wall Street, Danny Dimbort and Christian Mercuri of Red Granite International can get down to business. They have not exactly been idle since their company’s memorable launch party in Cannes 2011 but this will be the first market where they get to sell a must-have: in this case the Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio reunion based on Jordan Belfort’s riches-to-rags tale of Wall Street excess, shooting now in New York.

Patrick Wachsberger’s team at Lionsgate International will miss Helen Lee-Kim following her departure to Good Universe, but at least they have bragging rights to Roman Polanski’s Venus In Fur. Emmanuelle Seigner stars in the French-language erotic comedy adaptation of David Ives’ Tony-nominated play about a stage director who falls under the spell of an actress. Shooting starts November 15 in Paris.

Panorama sales chief Kim Fox will begin sales on The Voices, a psycho thriller with comedic elements to star Ryan Reynolds, that Marjane Satrapi will direct for Mandalay Vision and Vertigo. Paranormal Activity 2 writer Michael R Perry’s Black List screenplay is about a charismatic factory worker who is a schizophrenic. Production is scheduled to start on April 8, 2013, at Germany’s Babelsberg Studios.

Sierra/Affinity head Nick Meyer and his team are excited about Walk Of Shame, a comedy from Lakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment to star Elizabeth Banks as a hungover, aspiring news anchor stranded in a Los Angeles hinterland hours before her first broadcast. Lakeshore International jointly handles sales and FilmDistrict has already pounced on US rights.

Mark Damon and Tamara Birkemoe of Foresight Unlimited are bringing rom-com And So It Goes… starring Michael Douglas as an estate agent who falls for his neighbour, played by Diane Keaton. PJ Hogan will direct and Foresight Unlimited is financing and producing.

Nicolas Chartier’s Voltage Pictures begins talks for all international territories excluding Germany and Canada on the legal thriller Reasonable Doubt with Dominic Cooper and Samuel L Jackson. Production will start November 29 on the story of an ambitious district attorney involved in a hit-and-run.

Focus Features International’s Alison Thompson sold To Rome With Love and will be eager to commence talks on Woody Allen’s untitled follow-up. The prolific maestro’s latest project started shooting in New York with Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins and Peter Sarsgaard, among others. Plot details remain under wraps.

This will be the first official market for The Rover, David Michod’s new film following Animal Kingdom. Michod is in the capable hands of FilmNation’s Glen Basner, who is splitting territories with his old boss David Linde at Lava Bear. Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce run around the Australian Outback in a scary near future.

IM Global head Stuart Ford and sales lieutenant Jonathan Deckter have secured rights to Money Monster, which Jodie Foster is on course to direct in early 2013. IM Global and The Allegiance Theater will jointly finance and produce the drama about a TV personality who lands in deep water when his trading tips cause a man to lose everything.

QED International’s horror title Haunt begins shooting on November 10 and the Zac Efron rom-com Are We Officially Dating? is lined up for December 2. Two more films are currently in production: John Turturro directs and stars alongside Woody Allen in the male escort comedy Fading Gigolo, while Arnold Schwarzenegger stars with Malin Akerman and Sam Worthington in the David Ayer thriller Ten.

The Solution Entertainment Group should see plenty of interest in rom-com 5 To 7 from producers Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn. Diane Kruger will star opposite Anton Yelchin in the tale of a struggling writer and a diplomat’s wife who chance upon each other in Paris. Lisa Wilson will also seek to tempt buyers with Two Night Stand, which is shooting and stars Analeigh Tipton and Miles Teller. Demarest Films finances and is producing jointly with Beau Flynn and Ruben Fleischer.

Mimi Steinbauer’s Radiant Films International has picked up sales on Sam Kadi’s The Citizen. It centres on an Arab immigrant who arrives in the US on September 10, 2001. Agnes Bruckner, William Atherton and Cary Elwes star. Trust Me is a dark ensemble comedy about child stars and is shooting now in Los Angeles with a cast that includes William H Macy, Felicity Huffman, Sam Rockwell and Amanda Peet. Clark Gregg - who played Agent Coulson in Marvel’s The Avengers - wrote, directs and stars. Gregg and Mary Vernieu’s Savage Bunny produces alongside Aaron L Gilbert of Bron Studios and Keith Kjarval of Unified Pictures.

Speranza13 head Camela Galano will introduce buyers to the big-screen adaptation of children’s classic Molly Moon, the story of an 11-year-old girl who lives at an orphanage and uses hypnotism to locate her best friend who has left the institution. Christopher N Rowley directs the Amber Entertainment production and the cast includes Raffey Cassidy, Jadon Carnelly Morris, Lesley Manville, Dominic Monaghan and Emily Watson. Ileen Maisel produces with her Amber partner Lawrence Elman and Molly Moon author Georgia Byng. Shooting started last week.

Cargo Entertainment brings sci-fi tale The Visitors from The Vicious Brothers, whose credits include Grave Encounters. The story centres on college friends on holiday in a remote woodland cabin who become victims of alien abduction. The producers have set a spring start in Canada.

Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange has picked up sales on The Last Five Years, a musical to star Anna Kendrick. Richard LaGravenese adapted and will direct the story about a break-up.

Indomina Releasing sales chief Stephanie Denton will introduce Born To Be King. Peter Capaldi will direct the rom-com starring Ewan McGregor, with Kate Hudson in advanced talks to join the story about a film extra who falls for a starlet.

Cinema Management Group will be touting available territories on horror sequel The Collection, which LD Entertainment is ramping up to release wide in the US on November 30. Edward Noeltner’s slate includes Toronto pick-up Still, which stars James Cromwell as an 89-year-old man who fights the Canadian government in a bid to build a house for his ailing wife.

Shoreline Entertainment arrives with genre title The Zombinator, about a former soldier who hunts the undead and helps a group of college students in a spot of trouble.

Visit Films chief Ryan Kampe arrives with The Wait from producer Leslie Urdang, who enjoyed another successful Toronto with a US deal for Thanks For Sharing. Chloe Sevigny and Jena Malone star in a trippy tale about siblings who fight over re-animating their mother.

Premiere Entertainment Group announces its arrival with a documentary about rock band The Police called Can’t Stand Losing You. Bob Yari produces with Norman Golightly and Brett Morgen. Andy Grieve and Lauren Lazin direct.

Highland Film Group, which merged with Delphine Perrier’s Stonebrook International, will be touting action-comedy Barely Lethal about a teenage assassin who goes undercover at a high school. Brett Ratner is producing.

Showcase has boarded You May Not Kiss The Bride, which Freestyle Digital Media will distribute in the US. Katharine McPhee, Dave Annable and Rob Schneider flesh out the cast and the story follows a pet photographer’s arranged marriage to a mobster’s daughter.

Lightning Entertainment recently acquired sales on How To Make Money Selling Drugs and will give the hit Toronto documentary a big push in Santa Monica. 50 Cent, Woody Harrelson, Eminem, Susan Sarandon and drug kingpin ‘Freeway’ Rick Ross are the talking heads who try to convince us that US drugs policy has not deterred Americans from dealing.

Bleiberg Entertainment has picked up conspiracy thriller In The Shadow (the Czech Oscar contender) and also arrives with Under The Bed from the producers of horror V/H/S. The story charts what happens when two brothers try to prove there is no monster under the bed.

Celluloid Nightmares, XYZ Films’ joint sales venture with Celluloid Dreams, will be busy with Serendipity Point’s horror-musical Stage Fright with Minnie Driver and Meat Loaf, plus mystery The Rambler starring Dermot Mulroney and Lindsay Pulsipher.

VMI Worldwide has Whizbang Films’ completed Canadian caper Cottage Country, about a couple on vacation who must cover up an accidental death. Malin Akerman, Lucy Punch and Tyler Labine star.

Roman Kopelevich’s Red Sea Media brings the completed heist thriller Pawn with Forest Whitaker, Ray Liotta and Michael Chiklis and MPI Media Group will look to stir up excitement over Toronto premiere Here Comes The Devil. MPI fully financed Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s horror story about children who explore a cursed cave. The sales company will also debut Frankenstein’s Army, about terrifying secret experiments.

Alex Barder’s Strategic Film Partners has the Chris Kattan comedy Just Crazy Enough, which Screen Media will distribute in North America. Lance McDaniel directs.

Robbie Little’s Little Film Company arrives with The Between, Giorgio Serafini’s story about a family camping trip that descends into supernatural mayhem. Isabelle Fuhrman stars opposite Joel Courtney, James LeGros and Peter Bogdanovich.