Wild Bunch picks up Selma Hayek-prodcued The Prophet

Wild Bunch has picked up sales on the Selma Hayek-produced Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet ahead of its special presentation in Cannes.

Based on the inspirational poem by early 20th century, Lebanese writer Kahlil Gibran, the high profile adaptation is currently in post-production.

Hayek will present a work-in-progress in Cannes’ Official Selection on May 17. The actress also features in the voice cast alongside Liam Neeson, John Krasinski, Frank Langella, Alfred Molina and Quvenzhané Wallis.

The animated, portmanteau picture features the work of Roger Allers, Tomm Moore, Tichal Socha, Joan Gratz, Nina Paley, Joann Sfar, Bill Plympton, Mohammed Harib, and Paul and Gaetan Brizzi, who will all also be present at the event.

Other late additions to Wild Bunch’s slate include Paris Is Happening by Bertrand Bonello who is in competition with Saint Laurent.

The film kicks off with the flashmob-style occupation of a department store by a group of teenagers from across Paris, which degenerates into a violent stand off between the youngsters and the police. A script is available for the film which is due to shoot early 2015.

“It’s an action film exploring the paradox between how youngsters are at once the main detractors and clients of a consumer society,” said Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval.

The company will also kickstart sales on Andrew Dominik’s Blonde, based on Joyce Carol Oates’ book about Marilyn Monroe, which is set to star Jessica Chastain.

“It’s not a straight bio-pic but rather a psychoanalysis of the star through a series of key moments in her life,” commented Maraval.

The feature, produced by New Regency and Worldview, is due to start shooting early next year.

Other new titles include Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s historical martial arts film The Assassin, starring Chinese star Shu Qi, as 9th century assassin, who faces a difficult choice when she is ordered to kill the man she loves.

Wild Bunch will also show five minutes of Terrence Malick’s ambitious, epoch-spanning documentary Voyage Of Time, encompassing “the whole of time, from the birth of the universe to its final collapse”.

‘It’s the history of humanity from the Big Bang until to today,” said Maraval, adding that Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are providing the voiceover.

Wild Bunch’s packed slate also includes the previously announced Spring Breakers: The Second Coming; an untitled Paul Verhoeven project; the Nicolas Winding Refn-produced The Maniac Cop remake; Gaspar Noé’s Love; and feature animation The Little Prince.

The company will also premiere Abel Ferrara’s controversial Welcome to New York, starring Gérard Depardieu in a role inspired by disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn, in an unofficial screening on the Nikki Beach on May 17.