Heitor Dhalia Circles ‘April 23’ on the Calendar

Looks like April 23 won’t be Jérôme Salle’s big break into Hollywood filmmaking (though it could be argued that Largo Winch is a very Hollywoodian film from France) but Heitor Dhalia’s intro instead. Variety reports that the filmmaker who made some heads of studios take notice at Cannes for Adrift, a visually appealing marriage drama (read my afterthoughts for here) has signed onto direct the pic for Lakeshore. Gary Lucchesi will produce along with Jeffrey Silver and Hanna Weg.

The project appeared to be originally set up with MGM and had Kate Beckinsale to play the role of a Russian spy. Scripted by Weg (The Beautiful and the Damned), this is based on Erje Ayden’s book “Sadness at Leaving: An Espionage Romance.” This is the true story of a deep-cover KGB assassin sent to Manhattan amid the tumult of the 1960s with the mission of acquiring all the attributes of an American life until the time he is called upon to assassinate a defector. He’s then faced with the choice between family and country after he marries an American woman and becomes a father.