Tag: Sony Pictures Classics

Sony Classics Gets SMASHED

Sony Pictures Classics has announced that they have acquired all worldwide rights to SMASHED. The film, directed by James Ponsoldt (OFF THE BLACK), is produced by Jonathan Schwartz (Like Crazy) and Andrea Sperling (Like Crazy) of Super Crispy Entertainment, who were honored at Sundance this year with a Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing, as well as Jennifer Cochis. The film is executive produced by Audrey and Zygi Wilf. SPC previously worked with Sperling on the 2005 feature, THE QUIET.

SMASHED premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews and stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD), Emmy Award® winner Aaron Paul (BREAKING BAD), Academy Award® winner Octavia Spencer (THE HELP), Nick Offerman (PARKS & RECREATION), Emmy Award® winner Megan Mullally (WILL & GRACE) and Emmy Award® winner Mary Kay Place (BIG LOVE; MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN).

In SMASHED, Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter . . . and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something’s got to give. But change isn’t exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she’s been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.

“This is quite a remarkable and rare human drama, achieved through superb filmmaking by director James Ponsoldt and his entire cast, especially Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who gives one of the finest performances of the year. We are so pleased to be able to bring this film to audiences all over the world and to be working with producers Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling as well as our friends at UTA.” states Sony Pictures Classics.

Adds Producer Jonathan Schwartz, “We are all are thrilled to be working with Sony Pictures Classics on the release of SMASHED. We are in love this movie, and could think of no better home for the film than with Michael and Tom. Their track record speaks for itself. “

The deal was negotiated by UTA and CAA, on behalf of Super Crispy Entertainment, as well as, attorneys Lawrence Kopeikin and Elsa Ramo.

Super Crispy’s Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling have combined to produce over 30 feature films, including Sundance 2011 Grand Jury Award winner Like Crazy and 2012 Sundance premieres SMASHED and NOBODY WALKS, for which the producers won the Special Jury Prize, the first such prize awarded to Producers in Sundance history. Other credits include Michael Haneke’s FUNNY GAMES, Peter Weir’s THE WAY BACK, Goran Dukic’s WRISTCUTTERS, A Love Story, Drake Doremus’ untitled 2012 film, as well as Doremus’ Sundance winner LIKE CRAZY and DOUCHEBAG, Gregg Araki’s KABOOM, and David Ayer’s HARSH TIMES.

Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Highly Anticipated Documentary WEST OF MEMPHIS

Sony Pictures Classics has announced that they have acquired worldwide rights to Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Amy Berg’s (DELIVER US FROM EVIL) high profile documentary WEST OF MEMPHIS. The film debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Premiere Section to great critical acclaim. WEST OF MEMPHIS is produced by the Academy Award-winning team of Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson, and first time producers Damien Echols and Lorri Davis.

WEST OF MEMPHIS is a powerful documentary that chronicles the new investigation surrounding the “West Memphis Three,” which ultimately broke the case open and led to the freedom of three innocent men: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. Beginning with a searing examination of the fatally flawed police investigation into the 1993 murders of three, eight year old boys in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, the film goes on to reveal personal insight into Echols’ fight to save his own life; how he survived eighteen years on death row and eventually freed himself from the hatred and ignorance of those who had tried to destroy him. The film asks the question that still haunts Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley to this day – what value do we, as a society place on the truth?

“In 2009 Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Lorri Davis approached me to make a film which documented the defense’s battle to overturn the guilty verdicts in the case of the West Memphis Three. After spending more than two years on the ground filming in Arkansas, the blatant injustice of the case was very apparent; my hope is that WEST OF MEMPHIS will lead to full exoneration for Damien, Jason and Jessie. In addition, I hope the film will serve as a platform for a broader discussion about the failures of our criminal justice system nationwide. I’m very excited for this powerful story to be making its way to theaters and know that having Sony Pictures Classics as our partner is the surest way to catapult our film to the widest possible audience,” says Director Amy Berg.

Producers Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson add, “We are very proud to be partnering with Sony Pictures Classics on the release of WEST OF MEMPHIS. We have been working with Lorri Davis, Damien Echols and his defense team for the past seven years, and during that time we came to understand that this was not just a story of a terrible injustice; it’s also a story about hope; about how two people found each other, saved each other, and loved each other through the hardest of times. This is Damien and Lorri’s film, and we are very excited to share it with the world.”

“We are honored that Sony Pictures Classics will be working with us to bring WEST OF MEMPHIS to the world. We are excited and quite frankly overwhelmed at the chance to tell our own story. Working with Fran, Peter and Amy has been the most powerful and fulfilling of experiences for us. We see this film as a source of inspiration, and it carries our heart and soul with it,” say producers Lorri Davis and Damien Echols.

“With DELIVER US FROM EVIL, Amy Berg became a major documentary filmmaker. Seeing WEST OF MEMPHIS at Sundance, we felt Amy had outdone herself with this extraordinary anatomy and investigation of injustice. We look forward to collaborating with her and producers Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Damien Echols and Lorri Davis in bringing this exciting and important drama to audiences everywhere,” states Sony Pictures Classics.

SPC negotiated the deal with Jackson and Walsh’s manager, Ken Kamins, who also serves as the film’s Executive Producer. Sony Pictures Classics has previously worked with Kamins on John Boorman’s THE GENERAL.

Woody Allen’s NERO FIDDLED Acquired By Sony Pictures Classics; In Theaters Summer 2012

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all North American and UK rights to DGA nominee Woody Allen’s next film, NERO FIDDLED. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page.

Produced by Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum, Giampaulo Letta and Faruk Alatan, NERO FIDDLED, is a Medusa film and Gravier production. The film was Allen’s first film shot in Rome.

NERO FIDDLED marks Allen’s fifth film with Sony Pictures Classics. Allen’s most recent film with SPC, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, has made almost $60 million at the box office and is Allen’s highest grossing film in North America. The film also recently garnered a Director’s Guild of America nomination for Allen and four Golden Globe nominations. SPC’s previous collaborations with Allen include YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER starring Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Frieda Pinto; the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival’s opening night film WHATEVER WORKS starring Larry David, Patricia Clarkson and Evan Rachel Wood; and SWEET AND LOWDOWN, which garnered Oscar nominations for Sean Penn and Samantha Morton.

“More laughs in this one than you can imagine. We know it’s a bit premature, but thank you Woody and company, for granting us the perfect summer comedy of 2012. Keep ’em coming,” says Sony Pictures Classics.

Allen adds, “I’ve had a number of very good experiences working with Sony Classics, culminating most recently with MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. They seem to be very sensitive to the kind of films I make, and I’m looking forward to working with them now again.”

CARNAGE Trailer Stars Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz And John C. Reilly

Selected as the Opening Night Presentation at this year’s New York Film Festival (Sept.) and due in theaters on December 16, 2011, watch the trailer for director Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE. Polanski penned the script with Yasmina Reza, which is adapted from Reza’s 2009 Tony Award® winning play God of Carnage. The film is produced by Said Ben Said (THE WITNESSES, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN) and stars Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly.

Set in contemporary Brooklyn, New York, CARNAGE centers on two pairs of parents, one of whose child has hurt the other at a public park, who meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner. However, as the evening goes on, the parents become increasingly childish, resulting in the evening devolving into chaos.

Vera Farmiga’s HIGHER GROUND Official Trailer

Based on Carolyn S. Briggs’ memoir “This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost,” watch the trailer for Sony Pictures Classics’ HIGHER GROUND.

In Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut, HIGHER GROUND expertly depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community. Spanning the 60s through the 80s, the film is a study of one woman’s internal struggle with the primary love relationships in her life. As a contemplative child, Corrine (Farmiga) longs for stability and a sense of belonging. Her parents’ marriage disintegrates when Corrine is fifteen, so she searches for security in Ethan (Leonard), a talented musician. After a shotgun wedding and a terrifying brush with death, the couple dedicates their lives to God and joins a small hippie church. Corrine and Ethan find strength and joy in this community, though some of the tenets leave Corrine unsettled. The results provoke her to begin asking questions and inspire her to finally claim her own voice.

John Hawkes, Donna Murphy, Bill Irwin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dagmara Dominczyk, and Joshua Leonard round out the cast, along with Farmiga’s younger sister Taissa, who proves herself to be an extraordinary new talent as Young Corinne.

The film will be in theaters August 26, 2011.

Sony Pictures Classic Acquires US Rights to David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS GETS DANGEROUS WITH DAVID CRONENBERG

NEW YORK (June 16, 2011) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired the US Rights to David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD from UK based Hanway Films. The film, produced by Jeremy Thomas (THE LAST EMPEROR, SEXY BEAST), stars Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Vincent Cassel. The film is currently in post-production.

Cronenberg once again gathered a prestigious crew to work on A DANGEROUS METHOD, director of photography Peter Suschitsky (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, EASTERN PROMISES), composer Howard Shore (THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy, AVATAR), editor Ronald Sanders (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, EASTERN PROMISES, CORALINE), costume designer Denise Cronenberg (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, EASTERN PROMISES, THE INCREDIBLE HULK) and production designer James McAteer (GOOD WILL HUNTING, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN). The screenplay was adapted by Christopher Hampton (ATONEMENT, THE QUIET AMERICAN) from his own play.

Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, the driven Dr. Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) as his patient in A DANGEROUS METHOD. Jung’s weapon is the method of his master, the renowned Sigmund Freud. Both men fall under Sabina’s spell.

“David Cronenberg and Jeremy Thomas have made a film that not only has an impeccable cast and crew working at the height of their talents but tells one of the most fascinating love triangles of the twentieth century. The American public will enthusiastically embrace this picture. We are delighted to be in business again with Jeremy and David,” states Sony Pictures Classics.

Producer Jeremy Thomas adds, “I’m very excited to be working again with my friends at Sony Pictures Classics on David’s wonderful film.”

Sony Pictures Classics released David Cronenberg’s SPIDER as well as several films produced by Jeremy Thomas (Takeshi Kitano’s BROTHER, Wim Wender’s DON’T COME KNOCKING, and David Mackenzie’s YOUNG ADAM).

ABOUT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard serve as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous division of Sony Pictures Entertainment they founded with Marcie Bloom in January 1992, which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from around the world. Barker and Bernard have released prestigious films that have won 25 Academy Awards® (24 of those at Sony Pictures Classics) and have garnered over 100 Academy Award® nominations (93 at Sony Pictures Classics) including Best Picture nominations for AN EDUCATION, CAPOTE, HOWARDS END, AND CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services, and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in more than 100 countries.

RECORDED PICTURE COMPANY

Recorded Picture Company was established by Thomas in 1974 and has since produced over 50 films, including nine-time Academy Award winner The Last Emperor. Notable productions include The Sheltering Sky and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, and more recently, Sexy Beast, Crash, Young Adam and The Dreamers. In 2010, RPC premiered Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins at Venice along with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Essential Killing, which went on to garner the Jury Prize and two others in an unprecedented triple win. In 2011, RPC premiered Wim Wenders’ 3D film Pina at Berlin to great acclaim, and went on to premiere Takashi Miike’s Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai at Cannes, the first 3D film to show In Competition. RPC is currently in post-production on David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, starring Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel, and is in production on the epic adventure Kon-Tiki with directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg. Upcoming projects include those by Vincenzo Natali and Phillip Noyce.

HANWAY FILMS

Hanway Films’ current slate includes Seven Psychopaths from director Martin McDonagh starring Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke, Colin Farrell and Sam Rockwell; Great Expectations from director Mike Newell starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes; Takashi Miike’s 3D film Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai which premiered In Competition at Cannes 2011, Kon-Tiki, an epic from directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg which is currently in production; Wim Wenders’ acclaimed 3D dance film Pina, David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method starring Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel; Girls’ Night Out from director Michael Hoffman starring Dakota Fanning; Quartet directed by Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman from a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood; Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights; Steve McQueen’s Shame starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan from Academy Award-winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman; Kevin MacDonald’s groundbreaking documentary Life In A Day produced by Ridley Scott; the box office hit TT3D: Closer To The Edge, and Simon Barrett’s home invasion thriller You’re Next from producers Keith Calder and Jessica Wu.

Brendan Gleeson & Don Cheadle Team Up In THE GUARD Official Trailer

The Guard, directed and written by John Michael McDonagh, was the Official Selection at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and won ‘Best Debut Film – Honorable Mention’ at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival. From Sony Pictures Classic, watch Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson in the trailer for THE GUARD.

SYNOPSIS

THE GUARD is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must join forces to take on an international drug-smuggling gang – one, an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a straitlaced FBI agent.

Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleason) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive sense of humor. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it.

When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle’s small town becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humorless FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. Left to run his territory to his liking for many years, he is not at all impressed when the FBI comes to town.

Agent Everett has led an American life of privilege, complete with the highest levels of formal education. Consumed with his pursuit of justice, Everett has no interest in the district of Connemara other than as a backdrop to solve the case. He underestimates the townspeople, especially Sergeant Boyle. Everett looks down on Boyle as a low-level provincial policeman with a limited and flippant view of the world. Boyle sees Everett as a by-the-book policeman with a chip on his shoulder and no understanding of how the real world runs.

Despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case, Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick of it. First, his tiresomely enthusiastic new partner disappears. Then his favorite hooker attempts to blackmail him into turning a blind eye to the case. Finally the drug-traffickers he’s trying to find try to buy him off – as they have every other member of the local police force.

As unconventional as Boyle is, these events unwittingly offend his murky moral code. He realizes that he needs to take matters into his own hands, and that Everett is the only person he can trust. And so the scene is set for an unlikely friendship and explosive finale.

THE GUARD stars Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene and Katarina Cas. Shot by Larry Smith against the epic grandeur of Ireland, the scenery juxtaposes with the inventive soundtrack from Americana/alternative country band Calexico. Written by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), THE GUARD marks McDonagh’s feature directorial debut.

THE GUARD opens in NY and LA on July 29, 2011.

 

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD Trailer & Website Are Here!

Have a look at the trailer for Morgan Spurlock’s next film POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD via Yahoo! Movies. I can’t wait to see this! I love his stuff…ever since Super Size Me and his critically acclaimed FX television series, “30 Days.” Spurlock was recently nominated for a primetime Emmy Award as well as a Writer’s Guild Award for “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! On Ice!,” and is currently in post-production on his next feature documentary COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE.

Plus, The official website for POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD is now live! Check it out HERE! Visit the film on Facebook HERE.

Synopsis:

Boundary-pushing Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock explores the world of product placement, marketing and advertising in POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a film that was fully financed through product placement from various brands, all of which are integrated transparently into the film.

While using brands in film promotion is not new for Hollywood, it certainly is new territory for the documentary format. Spurlock exploits the phenomenon to new heights, with everything from branded pizza boxes and in-flight film promotions to branded-everything in-film.

With humor and insight, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold unmasks the marketing process to bring audiences behind closed doors directly into the pitch meetings and marketing presentations which ultimately inform our everyday entertainment decisions. Sponsors were provided with brand category exclusivity. The brands that agreed to sponsor the film placed Spurlock front and center in their brand campaigns and advertisements, both on and off-line. Partners have the unique right to promote themselves in association with Spurlock and the film as “The Greatest.” The agreements also stipulate that Spurlock maintains creative control of the film’s content and final edit.

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD is directed by Morgan Spurlock, written by Spurlock and Jeremy Chilnick, and produced by Spurlock, Chilnick and Abbie Hurewitz through Spurlock’s production company, Warrior Poets, along with Snoot Entertainment’s Keith Calder and Jessica Wu, who produced.

From Sony Pictures Classics and an Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2011, Miami International Film Festival 2011, SXSW Film Festival 2011, POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD will be in theaters in select cities on April 22, 2011.

Watch The New TAMARA DREWE Trailer

Here’s the first domestic trailer for Stephen Frears’ TAMARA DREWE. From Sony Pictures Classics, TAMARA DREWE will show at TIFF on September 12 & 13.

Synopsis:

Based on Posy Simmonds’ beloved graphic novel of the same name (which was itself inspired by Thomas Hardy’s classic Far From the Madding Crowd) this wittily modern take on the romantic English pastoral is a far cry from Hardy’s Wessex. Tamara Drewe’s present-day English countryside—stocked with pompous writers, rich weekenders, bourgeois bohemians, a horny rock star, and a great many Buff Orpington chickens and Belted Galloway cows—is a much funnier place. When Tamara Drewe sashays back to the bucolic village of her youth, life for the locals is thrown upside down. Tamara—once an ugly duckling—has been transformed into a devastating beauty (with help from plastic surgery). As infatuations, jealousies, love affairs and career ambitions collide among the inhabitants of the neighboring farmsteads, Tamara sets a contemporary comedy of manners into play using the oldest magic in the book—sex appeal.

TAMARA DREWE opens in theaters on October 8, 2010. The film is rated R for language and some sexuality.

Source: YAHOO! Movies

Trailer: INSIDE JOB

From Sony Pictures Classics comes this trailer for the documentary INSIDE JOB. The film was the Official Selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis:

From Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (NO END IN SIGHT), comes INSIDE JOB, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia. Narrated by Academy Award winner Matt Damon, INSIDE JOB was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

INSIDE JOB will be in theaters on October 8th, 2010. Visit the film on Facebook.