Renowned US producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (Transformers, Constantine) is to partner with Seven Arts Entertainment Inc and Prodigy Pictures on William Gibson adaptation Neuromancer, it was confirmed this weekend.
Di Bonaventura and his producing partner Mark Vahradian along with Prodigy’s Jay Firestone and Steve Hoban will produce the long gestating film, to be directed by Vincenzo Natali (Splice, Cube.)
Neuromancer will be produced as a UK-Canadian-Hungarian co-production by Neuromancer Productions UK Limited (an affiliate of Peter Hoffman’s Seven Arts and GFM Films LLP) in the UK, Pioneer Pictures KFT in Hungary and an affiliate of Prodigy in Canada. Shooting on the $60m budget feature is planned for later this year, with anticipated distribution ready for the autumn of 2013. GFM has been instrumental in setting up an EIS structure for the film.
“Guy (Collins) and I, when we went into the joint venture, felt that in order to give it (Neuromancer) the weight that it needed and to get it made with the right sort of strength and cast, it needed a high-profile producer to come on board and help us,” Michael Ryan, partner in GFM Films, told ScreenDaily. “For us, it’s obviously very good news. You don’t get Lorenzo on a project very often.”
With Di Bonaventura aboard, a number of pre-sales to major territories are set to be confirmed for Neuromancer during Cannes next month.
“The Lorenzo announcement was what everybody was waiting for. In terms of the major countries like France, Germany and UK, we’ve got deal structures and partners lined up but they were really waiting for us to announce this,” Ryan said.
Published in 1984, Neuromancer was the first winner of the science fiction “triple crown,” receiving the prestigious Nebula Award, Philip K. Dick Award and the Hugo Award. The cyberpunk classic is about a washed-up computer hacker hired by a mysterious employer to engineer the ultimate hack.
GFM formed prior to the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, re-unites Guy Collins, Fred Hedman and Michael Ryan (ex-Handmade) in a film development, production, financing and sales company.
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