Paramount Classics has bought most English-languageterritory and Latin American rights to Patrice Leconte's Venice competitionfilm The Man On The Train (L'Homme Du Train).

The $4.7m film, which moves on toToronto where it plays in the Gala section, stars Jean Rochefort and JohnnyHallyday as a schoolmaster and a bank robber who dream of swapping places (seereview).

Sold byPathe International, the film was produced by Philippe Carcassonne's Cine B andwas the first foreign-language picture to be backed by the UK's Film Council.It will be released by Pathe in France and the UK.

ParamountClassics, which previously released Leconte's Girl On The Bridge, hopesto give the film a US release in early 2003.