I was beginning to think that it would be the bring screen treatment of Paulo Coehlo’s classic, The Alchemist that would get a green light first, after all The Weinsteins put in a huge announcement at Cannes that it was among their top priorities. It is instead 11 Minutes (re-named and not to be confused with the recently released docu film about a fashion designer’s nightmare in Gotham) that will see the day of light with an international cast in hometown girl Alice Braga, France’s Vincent Cassel, Italy’s Riccardo Scarmarcio and Mickey Rourke on board Coehlo’s other classic. Variety reports that filming begins June 1st starting and or ending with Brazil or Geneva.
Paradise Now‘s Hany Abu-Assad has remained on board the project since it was announced that he was attached back in 2005, and in the interim, the director has rewritten Marcos Bernstein’s script. This revolves around Maria (Braga), a young girl from a Brazilian village who is swept off to Geneva in an affair with a Swiss businessman. The book’s title refers to the average duration of a sexual encounter, and much of Maria’s discoveries occur between the sheets. The naive girl who is betrayed by her first lover and swears off romance. She becomes a high-priced call girl who works at an upscale gentlemen’s club in Geneva. Cassel plays a music exec who gets her hooked on S&M. Rourke plays the club owner.
Hollywood Gang’s Gianni Nunnari is producing, with Craig J. Flores and George Waud as exec producers.
