All Finance articles – Page 242
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Eurimages backs nine new European co-productions
Eurimages, the Council of Europe's film fund, has announced aslate of nine films to receive its latest round of support. Eurimageswill back the European co-productions with a total investment of $3.6m (Euros2.8m). The films are:Noemie Lvovsky's L'ami de Fred Astaire (France-Switzerland) Eric Rohmer's Les amours d'Astree et de Celadon(France-Spain-Italy)Sinisa Dragin's ...
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Universal buys spec heist script with 50 Cent attached as star
Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to Charley and VlasParlapanides' speculative heist script Live Bet and has attached Curtis '50 Cent'Jackson to star.Mary Parent and Scott Stuber will produce, under their exclusive termdeal with the studio, along with Chris Lighty and 50 Cent through his G UnitFilms label.Universal Pictures' president ...
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Thema plans Rachmaninoff feature Lilacs
ThemaProduction, which backed Match Pointand the forthcoming In Transit, hasannounced plans for a new dramatic feature based on the life ofRussian-American composer and pianist SergeiRachmaninoff. The project,entitled Lilacs, is in pre-productionwith plans to shoot starting in August in Spain and at Thema'snew studio in St. Petersburg. Paris-based Pavel Loungine, who ...
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Movie Eye's Longest Night shooting in Shanghai
Japan's Movie Eye Entertainment has teamed up with Beijing-based MegadiaEntertainment to co-produce a $5m romantic drama with the working title The Longest Night In Shanghai.Directed by Zhang Yibai, whofirst came to attention with acclaimed drama Spring Subway, the film stars leading Chinese actress Vicki Zhaoand Japanese star Masahiro Motoki. Currently ...
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Polly Cohen installed as new Warner Independent chief
Warner Bros executive vice president of production Polly Cohen (pictured) hasbeen named as the new president of Warner Independent Pictures (WiP) followingMark Gill's abrupt departure last week.The widely expected move puts in place a key lieutenant of WarnerBros production chief Jeff Robinov, to whom Cohen will report when sheofficially starts ...
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Collette, Castle-Hughes to star in Esther Blueburger
Oscar-nominatedAustralian-born actresses, Toni Collette and Keisha Castle-Hughes, have agreedto board teen coming-of-age drama Hey,Hey It's Esther Blueburger.The film starts shooting in Adelaide in October and is being introduced to theinternational marketplace at Cannes by sales agent Lightning Entertainment. BVI hasAustralian rights.The two seasoned actors wereof course chosen for their talent ...
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Weitz returns to directing chair on New Line's Compass
Anand Tucker has exited the job of directing New Line's children'sfantasy epic The Golden Compass, and he has been replaced by the project's original directorChris Weitz.Weitz relinquished his director's role in December 2004 citingtechnical challenges but stayed on as screenwriter.Now he gets a second bite of the cherry following the ...
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Weinstein Co brings Knight Rider to big screen
The Weinstein Company (TWC) is bringing the 1980s hit television seriesKnight Rider to thebig screen after acquiring rights from show creator Glen A Larson.Larson will write the screenplay and serve as executive producer throughGlen A Larson Productions.Knight Rider is a revenge story about a police investigator who survives ashooting and ...
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Star backs high-def trio from Hong Kong's Yee
Star Chinese Movies isinvesting in three high-definition films to be executive produced byaward-winning Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Yee.The first of the threefilms, love story Pandora's Booth,started filming last week in Hong Kong. Starring Hong Kong popidols Fiona Sit and Kenny Kwan, the film is directed by Mak Kai-kwong whostarted his ...
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New Films Int'l taps Kessler as business affairs chief
Craig A Kessler has joined Beverly Hills-based New FilmsInternational as vice president of business and legal affairs.Reporting to New Films executive vice president Ron Gell, Kesslerwill be responsible for negotiating production and co-productions for NFI'sexpanding slate.Kessler previously served at Doug Liman's production companyHypnotic, and prior to that he served in ...
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Focus acquires Kimmel biopic for US release
Focus Features has picked up domestic rights to Sidney KimmelEntertainment (SKE) and Mark Gordon Company's biopic Talk To Me, starring Don Cheadle and ChiwetelEjiofor.Kimmel International will commence sales at Cannes later thismonth on the true story of Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Green, an outspoken ex-con whobecame an iconic radio personality and ...
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Hyde Park to start Death Sentence for Fox
Ashok Amritraj's LosAngeles-based Hyde Park Entertainment will fully finance and produce thethriller Death Sentence under itsfive-year first-look deal with 20th Century Fox.Fox willdistribute domestically and Hyde Park International will commence overseassales at Cannes on thefirst project to be greenlit under the deal,announced last summer.Saw creator James Wan is directingbased on ...
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Gold Circle recruits Samuell for My Sassy Girl remake
BeverlyHills-based Gold Circle hashired Belgian filmmaker Yann Samuellto direct the remake of South Korean romantic comedy hit My Sassy Girl.Jae-Young Kwak's 2001 filmwas a huge success in South Korea and the English-language versionis being fast tracked for an autumn shoot.Theproject marks Gold Circle's firstcollaboration with Maverick Films and its ...
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Hopes high for end to funding chaos
Greek film production has undergone a financingcrisis during the last couple of years - but amid the chaos several projects havemanaged to move forward.The underlying uncertainty has been causedby the same debate that has echoed across Europe; whether public funds should financefeature production.Under Petros Tatoulis, then Greece's deputy Culture Minister ...
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UK's Jan Dunn recruits Bob Hoskins for Ruby Red Chequer
Writer/directorJan Dunn and producer Elaine Wickham of Medb Films are following up their British Dogme film Gypo with a second feature, Ruby Red Chequer. Ruby Red Chequer will star Bob Hoskins,French actress Josiane Balasko,and film newcomer Jody Latham (TV's Shameless)in the story of a widower who falls for his foreign ...
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Van Damme thriller Til Death wraps in Bulgaria
Director Simon Fellows hasconcluded principal photography on thriller Til Death in Sofia, Bulgaria. After 33 days on location on the outskirts of Sofia, the $15m project now moves to New Orleans for five days of shooting. The thriller stars Jean ClaudeVan Damme as a dirty cop who is nearly killed ...
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Pathe and Vertigo set to start Nick Love's Outlaw
Pathe Productions and Vertigo Films are planning a May 12start date for Nick Love's Outlaw.Sean Bean, Danny Dyer,Rupert Friend, Lennie James, Sean Harris and BobHoskins star in five interwoven stories about victims of crime taking law intotheir own hands. The feature will shoot inthe Southwest of England and London. Vertigo's ...
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FFC Australia backs diverse slate of new projects
Film Finance Corporation Australia has provisionallypromised funding to three features, including writer-director Christina Andreef's adaptation of the novel Shiver, one of 18 projects in Cannes' scriptdevelopment program L'Atelier.The other two dramas are Two Fists One Heart, to be directed by NewYork-based Australian John Polson (Swimfan, Hide and Seek),and the German-Australian-Chinese ...
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Vertigo, Pathe gear up for cop thriller WAZ
Pathe Pictures International and Vertigo Films will startprincipal photography May 8 for New York-set thriller WAZ. Tom Shankland, who previouslydirected Bafta-nominated shorts Bait and Going Down,makes his feature directorial debut. Vertigo's James Richardsonand Allan Niblo are producing. Stellan Skarsgard, Melissa George,Selma Blair and Ashley Walters star.Clive Bradley wrote thescript about ...
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Canadian, Greek shoot starts for Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces
Serendipity Point Films has started principal photography on its drama Fugitive Pieces. Jeremy Podeswa isdirecting and also adapted the screenplay from Anne Michaels' book of the samename. The story follows a Jewish-Polish boy who is orphaned during WWII, saved bya Greek archaelogist, and later finds love as an adult living ...