The Marché du Cannes (Market) has some hot projects:
Director Park Chan-wook’s biggest American movie.
Park Chan-wook’s (Dir: Oldboy, No Other Choice) next project is a western thriller, The Brigands of Rattlecreek, written by S. Craig Zahler (Wri: Dragged Across Concrete).
The cast is star-studded:
Matthew McConaughey
Austin Butler
Pedro Pascal
Tang Wei (Decision to Leave)
The film will follow a sheriff and a doctor in a frontier town that is terrorized by a gang that uses a thunderstorm to rob its residents.
Park’s direction and S. Craig Zahler’s writing are characterized by unflinching violence that isn’t for the shock factor, but has a narrative elegance that enhances the emotional arc of the story.
Park often showed his love towards the Western genre in many interviews, especially the 1974 Neo-Western film Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, directed by Sam Peckinpah (trailer) – so we can expect a gritty grindhouse-meets-arthouse film from the Korean director. We would love to see Park’s obsessive yet beautiful take on the Western genre.
Legendary’s 193 (Die, My Love) will serve as the sales rep.
Matt Smith has never met a strange role he didn’t want to make weirder.
The Doctor Who actor is joining Imogen Poots (The Chronology of Water) in The Salamander Lives Twice, a left-field mystery headed to the Cannes market with sales rep Embankment Films.
Here’s the synopsis:
Follows a stranger who washes ashore on a remote island with no memory. Taken in by Iris, her daughter Goggy, and their butler Baby, he’s drawn into their decaying world of revenge, family betrayal, and violence.
Much like his House of the Dragon character, which we will finally see on our screen again this June, Smith thrives on unpredictability, balancing an incontestable charm with an enigmatic edge that leaves his intentions constantly in question. A man with no memories, the role gives Smith ample room to play with a shifting sense of self and the kind of offbeat absurdity he does so well.
Int. Sales Rep: Architect (I Don’t Understand You)
Dir/Wri: Jim Rash (dir. The Way, Way Back)
Cast: Allison Janney, Bonnie Hunt, Andrew Rannells (A Simple Favor)
Prod. Co: Madison Wells (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Synopsis:
A widow plans husband’s funeral. Estranged son sends an assistant instead of coming himself. Widow grieves with a stranger.
Dir: Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow)
Cast: Gal Gadot, Isla Fisher (Now You See Me), joining Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson
Prod. Comp/Int. Sales Rep: 193 (sales rep: Die My Love)
Synopsis:
Follows a man’s quest to prove he created Bitcoin, a claim that puts his life in peril and sets off a high-stakes race between tech billionaires and world leaders with the financial system hanging in the balance.
Studiocanal is going all in on Bill Condon’s South African musical, set to finance, produce, and release the film in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Int. Sales Rep: Palisades Park Pictures (Fast Charlie)
Dir: Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
Wri: Michael Bronner (The Mauritanian)
Cast: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Synopsis:
Exiled from his native South Africa, trumpeter Hugh Masekela is pulled between two worlds when the anti-apartheid movement, led by his mentor and fierce anti-apartheid advocate, launches a boycott against Hugh’s friend Paul Simon, over his township music-inspired album Graceland, accusing Simon of violating the United Nations’ Cultural Boycott.
Int. Sales Rep: Embankment Films (The Father)
Dir: István Szabó (Mephisto)
Wri: Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons)
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Viggo Mortensen
Prod. Comp: Bell Media (Heated Rivalry)
Synopsis:
Henrik and Konrad were inseparable friends once. They reconnect decades after Konrad’s mysterious disappearance, uncovering the secret that tore them apart and the woman at the center of it.
Cornerstone (Pillion) boards as international sales rep for:
Dir: James Ashcroft (The Rule of Jenny Pen)
Cast: Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Marlon Williams (Sweet Tooth)
U.S. Dist: Bleecker Street Media
Synopsis:
When a pregnant young woman becomes trapped in an underground cave system, she must learn to survive in a world totally devoid of light. But she discovers true darkness within herself when she emerges 15 years later.
Alex Proyas (Dir: The Crow, I, Robot) is using AI to make his new film Heaven.
Synopsis:
A man agrees to be uploaded to an A.I. metaverse afterlife and discovers it more closely resembles hell than heaven.
The use of AI actually seems like a perfect creative choice here, and one that allows the filmmaker to paint on a bigger canvas. He spent 10 years trying to get this up, so this is a massive win. From Ex Machina Studios and K5 International.
Int. Sales rep/Prod. Comp: VMI Worldwide (sales: Goodfellas)
Dir: Jared Cohn (Hold Your Breath)
Cast: Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Danielle Vasinova (The Madison)
Synopsis:
Follows three low-level criminals who accidentally pull off a $300M heist and find themselves stranded in a small West Texas town where every desperate resident is willing to trade their morals and lives for the fortune.
Int. Sales Rep: Alliance Media Partners (Dead Eyes)
Dir: Lisa Mulcahy (Lies We Tell)
Cast: Samantha Morton (Minority Report, Morvern Callar)
Synopsis:
A mother is forced to enter war-torn Syria to recover her daughter after the child is taken across borders by her estranged husband.
Also…
Neon’s Oscar and BAFTA-nominated film Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020, trailer) is getting a sequel. Quo Vadis, Aida? – The Missing Part will pick up immediately from the ending of the previous film, as we follow Aida searching for her sons, who were taken by Serbian forces during the fall of Srebrenica in 1995. Paris-based sales company Indie Sales has been appointed to oversee international sales at the Cannes Market.
Cannes’ Market’s The Unlucky starring Ludi Lin (Mortal Kombat) is picked up by Media Move (Sales Rep: The Lure).
The Playmaker (Sew Torn) boards international sales for Lieblingsfilm’s Horse on a Stick, a family adventure about competitive hobby horsing. The film is set for a Cannes Market debut.