When Harvey Weinstein flies in to Sundance things usually happen and so it proved to be as The Weinstein Comapny (TWC) made the first play of the festival, paying low six figures for all international rights to Marina Zenovich's documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired.
The deal excludes North American rights and UK television and was sealed before the end of the world premiere screening at 6.15 on Friday evening [Jan 18]. A number of distributors including Focus and Picturehouse were circling domestic rights heading into a high profile weekend that promises to deliver headline grabbing deals.
At time of writing both Jonathan Levine's The Wackness with Ben Kingsley and Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt were in play and expected to close soon. Brad Anderson's drug ring thriller TransSiberian, which stars Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer, was also generating postive word of mouth.
Saturday brings highly anticipated premieres of Barry Levinson's What Just Happened, arguably the most anticipated title of the festival that stars Robert DeNiro as a frazzled Hollywood producer, Sean McGinly's romp The Great Buck Howard with John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks, as well as Susan Koch's homelessness documentary Kicking It and Alex Rivera's sci-fi drama Sleep Dealer, another title that is known to be on Weinstein's must-see list.
Sunday's hot list includes dramas in the form of Daniel Barnz' Phoebe In Wonderland with Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson, as well as Rawson Marshall Thurber's The Mysteries Of Pittsbugh starring Jon Foster, Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard and Sharon Maguire's Incendiary with Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor.
TWC's senior vice president of business and legal affairs and acquisitions Michal Podell negotiated the Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired deal with Josh Braun and Kevin Iwashina of Submarine Entertainment along with John Sloss, Sarah Lash and Paul Brennan of Cinetic Media.
Steven Soderbergh and Randy Wooten served as executive producers and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Lila Yacoub produced the film which is in the Documentary Competition section here. The film charts the scandal that led to Polanski's flight from the US, focusing on the apparently unfair trial which Polanksi endured.
The deal excludes North American rights and UK television and was sealed before the end of the world premiere screening at 6.15 on Friday evening [Jan 18]. A number of distributors including Focus and Picturehouse were circling domestic rights heading into a high profile weekend that promises to deliver headline grabbing deals.
At time of writing both Jonathan Levine's The Wackness with Ben Kingsley and Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt were in play and expected to close soon. Brad Anderson's drug ring thriller TransSiberian, which stars Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer, was also generating postive word of mouth.
Saturday brings highly anticipated premieres of Barry Levinson's What Just Happened, arguably the most anticipated title of the festival that stars Robert DeNiro as a frazzled Hollywood producer, Sean McGinly's romp The Great Buck Howard with John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks, as well as Susan Koch's homelessness documentary Kicking It and Alex Rivera's sci-fi drama Sleep Dealer, another title that is known to be on Weinstein's must-see list.
Sunday's hot list includes dramas in the form of Daniel Barnz' Phoebe In Wonderland with Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson, as well as Rawson Marshall Thurber's The Mysteries Of Pittsbugh starring Jon Foster, Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard and Sharon Maguire's Incendiary with Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor.
TWC's senior vice president of business and legal affairs and acquisitions Michal Podell negotiated the Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired deal with Josh Braun and Kevin Iwashina of Submarine Entertainment along with John Sloss, Sarah Lash and Paul Brennan of Cinetic Media.
Steven Soderbergh and Randy Wooten served as executive producers and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Lila Yacoub produced the film which is in the Documentary Competition section here. The film charts the scandal that led to Polanski's flight from the US, focusing on the apparently unfair trial which Polanksi endured.
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