Samuel Goldwyn Takes Gyllenhaal's Grassroots
The distributor has announced from Cannes its acquisition of Stephen Gyllenhaal's activist dramedy featuring Joel David Moore as an idealist running for office — against Cedric the Entertainer — in Seattle in 2001. Jason Biggs, Lauren Ambrose, Cobie Smulders and Tom Arnold co-star.
Susanne Bier's Latest Lands at Sony Classics
A year after releasing Bier's Oscar-winning foreign-language feature In a Better World, the venerable art-house distributor has struck a deal to release her follow-up Love is All You Need. Pierce Brosnan leads the romantic comedy, which is set in Sorrento, Italy, and tells the story of "a group of people all seeking love, about passion and happiness, about jealousy and loneliness. First and foremost, it’s a story about having the courage to change your life – even when you think it’s too late."
And around the 'net...
Aaron Sorkin Makes Steve Jobs Deal with Sony
It's official: Sorkin will adapt Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography for the screen. "There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin," said Sony chief Amy Pascal in a statement. "In his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing." Deadline reports.
Morgan Freeman's Political Comments Irk WB Shareholder
The actor's claims during the Dolphin Tale press tour that the Tea Party movement and Republican politics are "racist and wants to screw the country" drew fire from a shareholder on Tuesday's Time Warner conference call. TW CEO Jeff Bewkes, meanwhile, declined to intervene in Freeman's upcoming publicity duties for The Dark Knight Rises, THR reports.
Music Box Nabs Starlet
Director Sean Baker's controversial, sexually explicit SXSW sensation Starlet has a buyer in Music Box Films, which announced its acquisition of the Dree Hemingway-starrer today at Cannes. Variety reports.
John Woo to Grapple with Beast
Also from Cannes comes word of Day of the Beast, John Woo's planned remake of Seijun Suzuki’s 1963 Yakuza classic Youth of the Beast. "This remake is my salute to the great films and filmmakers produced by Nikkatsu’s 100 years in cinema history," Woo said in a statement. "It is exciting for me as well as an honor." Deadline reports.