With this week’s deal on Soul Surfer (true story of a teenage surfer girl who is shark bite victim) with TriStar Pictures and today’s pick-up of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Bob Berney is giving us a clearer idea of what to expect from new outfitter FilmDistrict. With a mandate of releasing in the 4 to 8 title range, we can expect to see big marketing campaigns and as Deadline mentions, four wall strategies that would open films in the 1500 and 2000 screen range. The project which is still shooting in Los Angeles was being chased by other middle-weight distribs Lionsgate and Summit. Expect a release midway next year.
Gist: Based on the James Sallis’ novel, set in the seamy underside of Southern California and Arizona, centers on a Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a wheelman during robberies and discovers that a contract has been put on him. He ends up on the run with an ex-con’s girlfriend (Carey Mulligan) in his car. Albert Brooks will play Bernie Rose, the transplanted New York mobster who comes to L.A. and is not to be messed with. Here is what Gosling is looking like on set.
Worth Noting: FilmDistrict have been mum on details regarding London Boulevard and The Rum Diary – both titles belong to GK Films and have yet to be pegged with a festival mention or release date. This may change with the upcoming edition of the Berlin Film Festival.
Why Do We Care?: Despite it being a former “studio” project (Universal let go of the rights) and our reservations on the Hossein Amini screenplay, we generally liked where this project was going once Nicolas Winding Refn was named as the director and when the casting news (a true smorgasbord of actors) started trickling in (this includes Mulligan and Gosling, but T.V stars such as Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks and the hardly seen, very picky Brooks. A studio with less titles means a more concentrated effort which further equates to better positioning on the calender.
