James Mangold Takes The Red Circle

EXCLUSIVE: Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Two Days, One Night, which will be directed by two-time Palme d’Or-winning auteurs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and stars Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione and Olivier Gourmet. She signed on to star in February, and shooting will take place in Belgium this summer. Cotillard plays Sandra, a young woman who has only one weekend to convince her colleagues they must give up their bonuses in order for her to keep her job. Longtime Dardenne collaborator Rongione plays Cotillard’s husband. The film is a co-production between the Dardennes’ Les Films du Fleuve and Denis Freyd’s Archipel 35. Wild Bunch negotiated for filmmakers with Arianna Bocco at Sundance Selects/IFC Films.

Phase 4 Films acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to writer-director Shana Betz’s feature directorial debut Free Ride. The film stars Anna Paquin, Cam Gigandet, Drea De Matteo, Liana Liberato, Jeff Hephner, Brit Morgan and Ava Acres. Scripted by Betz, the film is produced by Susan Dynner, Cerise Hallam Larkin, Chris Swinney and Paquin, and executive produced by Mark Larkin and Stephen Moyer. This is the first film production from Paquin and Moyer’s new production company CASM. Phase 4 will release the film later this year in theaters and on demand. Paquin and Moyer star together in HBO’s True Blood. Set in the 1970s and based on her life story, Betz’s accomplished directorial debut is a provocative crime thriller: Paquin plays a single mother who moves to Florida with her daughters in search of a better life but gets pulled into the high-stakes drug-trade business. Related: Cannes: Phase 4 Acquires Lucy Walker’s ‘The Crash Reel’ “Shana Betz has written and directed a poignant and gripping film anchored by a powerful performance by Anna Paquin,” says Phase 4′s Barry Meyerowitz. “We look forward to working with Shana, and the entire cast and producing team to bring this film to audiences.” “It’s always very exciting to discover talented writers and directors at the beginning of their careers. Based on the life story of Shana Betz, our writer-director, Free Ride tells an emotionally intense story of survival, and the lengths a mother will go to, to take care of her children,” said Paquin. ”This was a story we felt passionately needed to be told. We are thrilled that Phase 4 is as excited about the film as we are and look forward to working with them.” Phase 4′s Larry Greenberg and Katharyn Howe did the deal with Paradigm’s Nick LoPiccolo and attorney Ron Levin. Featured Artists Agency’s Brian Dreyfuss reps Betz and was heavily involved in packaging the movie. Cargo Entertainment is handling international sales.

Wrekin Hill Entertainment acquired U.S. rights to Gabriele Salvatores’ Siberian Education. Based on the novel by Nicolai Lilin, with a screenplay by Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli and Salvatores, the film stars John Malkovich, Arnas Feravicius, Vilius Tumalavicius, Eleanor Tomlinson, Peter Stormare, Jonas Trukanas and Vitalji Porsnev. Set in the ghetto of Soviet Russia, Siberian Education follows the path of two boys who are members of a gang of exiled Siberians. The best friends grow up together, mastering a unique education focused on illegal arts such as theft, banditry and weaponry. Their clan has its very own stringent code of honor, which, while criminal, sometimes actually coincides with what is generally considered ethical and moral. It is a code that must never be broken, no matter what. As the boys turn to men, everything they have come to know and learn is tested. The film’s produced by Catteya’s Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Satabilini, Marco Chimenz, and executive produced by Gina Gardini. The deal for the film was negotiated by Rene Cogan and Alex Mandell for Wrekin Hill with WestEnd Films on behalf of the filmmakers. WestEnd is handling international sales on this title. Wrekin Hill will release the film in late 2013. It has already been released in several territories including Italy where it has already taken in more than $6 million at the box office. “Gabriele Salvatores has crafted a tense and disturbing drama about the Eastern European criminal underworld that we found completely fascinating,” says Wrekin Hill Co-Founder/Partner Rene Cogan. “We are proud to be able to bring this film to audiences in the U.S.”

Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) won’t make its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival until Tuesday, but Mongrel Media has already stepped in to acquire all Canadian rights. The plan is for a fall 2013 release. The film — Sorrentino’s fifth competition on the Croisette — tells the story of an aging writer who who bitterly recollects his passionate lost youth against the backdrop of modern Rome. It stars Tony Servillo, who also starred in Sorrentino’s Il Divo, which Mongrel also released in Canada. Cohen Media Group has acquired National Book Award winner The Inventor And The Tycoon, Edward Ball’s recently published book about the true story of photography and motion picture pioneer Edward Muybridge and wealthy industrialist and politician Leland Stanford. The acquisition was negotiated by Cohen chairman and CEO Charles S. Cohen and ICM agency, which reps Ball. The book focuses on a shocking incident: At the time of his work with Stanford that resulted in the creation of  one of the first motion pictures, Muybridge killed a drama critic friend of his young wife after he discovered the man may have fathered their baby son. At his murder trial Muybridge refused to deny his actions and was acquitted on the grounds of “justifiable homicide.” Stanford arranged for his defense. “Edward Muybridge’s great accomplishments are well known, but his life story has faded over time”, Cohen said. “Edward Ball’s remarkable book brings Muybridge and all his uniqueness back to life, and we are thrilled to be able to bring his story to the screen.” UK-based Stealth Media Group and Iron Sky producer Cathy Overett’s new shingle Cathartic Pictures have joined to produce a revolving slate of films and to set up an Australian outpost the sales agent. The first film in the deal is Bullets For The Dead, a $2M zombie Western set to shoot in Queensland Australia in July, followed by Bite, a $5M vampire film slated to shoot in Oz in October. Stealth Australia is also looking to pick up 2-3 films a year out of Australia. Glavkino, the Russian all-digital film and TV production studio set up by filmmaker Feodor Bondarchuk and Ilya Bachurin, has announced its first feature film production investments and that a second phase of development will see a second $100M investment. Four titles are in the works: Action adventure Aqua Vitae, directed by Yury Bykov, who has The Major in the  Critics Week sidebar; drama Flip-out, directed by Pyotr Buslov; and horror-of-war anthology WWI, produced by and starring Bondarchuk; and comedic drama Buoy, directed by Taisia Igumentseva.

At last year's Cannes Film Festival, Alec Baldwin and writer-director James Toback set out to make a movie about the difficulty of making movies. And now that documentary, "Seduced and Abandoned," has premiered at Cannes. The meta quality extends to the exploits captured in the freewheeling production, which finds Baldwin and Toback wandering around the Cannes marketplace vainly attempting to raise money for a dramatic project they've coyly dubbed "Last Tango in Tikrit." Worse pitches have been sold at Cannes' global marketplace, which is part of the point: With Baldwin making his way back to movies in the wake of "30 Rock" winding down, his return provides him with an excuse to explore why so many bad projects get made while the better ones struggle for notice. The duo initially says they want to cast Neve Campbell alongside Baldwin in the proposed erotic romance, but the lowball offers force them to consider hotter stars. However, their plight mainly provides an excuse to chat up