Wild Bunch goes full circle with Meirelles' 360

Wild Bunch is hitting the EFM with several new titles including the latest from Fernando Meirelles, 360.  The film, from a screenplay by Peter Morgan, stars Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster and Jamel Debbouze in a story about love and sex that harkens back to La Ronde, according to Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval.

Produced by David Linde and Andrew Eaton and co-produced by Dor Film, the $15m project starts shooting next month. Wild Bunch, which previously teamed with Meirelles on the Oscar nominated-City Of God, has taken distribution rights in France and Italy and will sell the rest of the world, excluding Austria.

David Linde said: “Peter’s amazing script is especially compelling for today’s audiences and I know Wild Bunch will provide a terrific home for a film that is already being embraced so enthusiastically”

Eaton added: “It is great to be in business again with Wild Bunch with one of the great directors and a fantastic script and cast”

And Maraval said: “We are thrilled to start a collaboration with David Linde who already worked brilliantly with Fernando on The Constant Gardener and to continue our successful cooperation with Andrew and again with Fernando after City Of God which was a labour of love for both of us. It is rewarding and challenging knowing that we have grown up and improved since then.”

Next up from Wild Bunch is The Artist, which reunites the OSS 117 team of Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. John Goodman also stars in the silent romance film which is produced by Thomas Langmann. The film will be ready for Cannes.

Also produced by Langmann is The War Of The Buttons from The Choir director Christophe Barratier.  An adaptation of the Louis Pergaud adventure story, the film stars Kad Merad and Gerard Jugnot. This project, while a co-production with TF1, is not to be confused with the similarly titled Yann Samuell film that is being sold by TF1 International. Barratier will be on hand in Berlin to help promote the film.

Director Laurent Tirard will also be in Berlin to demo the 3D being used in Wild Bunch’s big-ticket Asterix And Obelix: God Save Britannia.

Babyshambles (and former Libertines) frontman Pete Doherty makes his acting debut in Confession Of A Child Of The Century, Sylvie Verheyde’s adaptation of Alfred de Musset’s classic novel. The English-language love story also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lily Cole, August Diehl and Volker Bruch. It will be ready for Toronto.

Il Postino director Michael Radford is also on Wild Bunch’s lineup with documentary Michel Petrucciani: Body And Soul about the legendary three-foot tall jazz musician who was born with glass bone disease yet went on to be an international sensation. The film will be ready for Cannes.

Also slated for delivery around Cannes is Kike Maillo’s first film, Eva. Set in 2041, the film follows the story of a cyber-engineer seeking to create a child android who discovers unexpected things about his young niece. Claudia Vega, Daniel Bruhl, Marta Etura, Alberto Amann and Lluis Homar star. Maraval says the film is in the vein of Let Me In while falling somewhere in between a genre film and a poetic drama. Wild Bunch will release the film in France, Paramount has Spain.

Extraterrestrial is director Nacho Vigalondo’s second feature after 2007’s Timecrimes. The hip Spanish-language film, says Maraval, sees Vigalondo create a new style: A sort of genre alien comedy with a love story.

Cloudbusters, Jonathan Caouette’s follow-up to 2004’s Tarnation, is a mother-and-son road movie set in a psychedelic maelstrom starring Caouette and his mother Renee LeBlanc.

After 2004’s To Take A Wife and 2007’s 7 Days, Shlomi Elkabetz again directs his wife, The Band’s Visit star Ronit Elkabez in Testimony. The film is a voyage into the collective memory as Palestinian and Israeli soldiers’ accounts of the Intifada are acted out by real actors. Ready for Cannes, the film also stars Albert Illouz, Kerem Mor and Menashe Noy.

Valerie Donzelli’s Declaration Of War is inspired by the director’s own story wherein she and her husband discover their son, diagnosed with cancer, has only five years to live. The story traces the parents’ everyday battle in what Maraval says is almost a war film which often turns to pure comedy.

Other titles on Wild Bunch’s slate include Nick Cassavetes’ currently-shooting Yellow, for which a teaser will be available in Berlin; Mary Harron’s The Moth Diaries; Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmasters; Lou Ye’s Love And Bruises; Giovanni Veronesi’s The Ages Of Love which stars Robert DeNiro and Monica Bellucci; and The Field Of Enchantment which recently sold to Walt Disney for a big Christmas release in France. Promos will be available for each of the films.

A script will also be available for the latest from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, now titled The Kid With A Bike, starring Cecile de France and Jeremie Renier.

As previously reported, Wild Bunch will handle sales on Kore-eda’s I Wish outside Asia.