IM Global Founder and CEO Stuart Ford confirmed one of the leading independent studio’s biggest ever Cannes slates today ahead of the commencement of the 70th edition of the Festival that commences Wednesday.
One of the industry’s premier feature film financing and production companies will launch sales on two new productions of its own – Johnny Depp comedy drama Richard Says Goodbye and Viggo Mortensen thriller Unabomb, based on the real-life FBI hunt for the “Unabomber killer” in the nineties.
The company will also continue sales on two more imminent homegrown productions – noir thriller Serenity starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke and Uma Thurman and sci-fi romantic drama Zoe starring Ewan McGregor, Léa Seydoux and Theo James.
Aside from its own production activities, IM Global is one of the most active and high profile international film sales agencies in the industry. President of International Sales and Distribution Michael Rothstein and his team will launch sales on James McAvoy Bosnian wartime drama Escape, Brian De Palma thriller Domino starring Nicolaj Coster-Waldau and will continue sales on currently shooting Keanu Reeves thriller Siberia.
Documentary My Generation is a bold, colorful, musically driven look back at the impact of Britain’s working class cultural revolution on the sixties narrated and presented by Michael Caine.
Most newsworthy of all perhaps is the company’s launch of another documentary, Oliver Stone’s The Putin Interviews. The three-time Academy Award Winning director will be in Cannes to present select footage to international buyers in a private invitation only screening event. In tandem with the Cannes activity, IM Global Television is busy licensing rights to international broadcasters to air the interviews in close proximity to Showtime’s broadcasts beginning June 12th, which promises to be a major broadcast and news media event.
IM Global moves into its tenth year with its sales and production arms operating at record levels during a time of significant evolution for the independent sector. Ford paid tribute to the company’s Academy Award Winning production head Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and President of International Sales and Distribution Michael Rothstein saying “Few companies outside of the major studios have the level of sophistication that Greg and Michael’s operations bring to us when it comes to packaging, producing and monetizing top tier star driven feature films. The next 12 months looks tremendously exciting for our film business.”
Full details of the IM Global slate are below.
RICHARD SAYS GOODBYE
Written and to be directed by Wayne Roberts (Katie Says Goodbye), Richard Says Goodbye stars three-time Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Loving, Sinister, I Think We’re Alone Now, Midnight Special) and Academy Award winner Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) are producing the film.
When Richard (Depp), a world weary college professor, is given a life-changing diagnosis he decides to throw all pretense and conventions to the wind and live his life as boldly and freely as possible. With a biting sense of humor, a reckless streak, and a touch of madness, he binges through every vice – drinking, smoking, sex, and hurling blunt insults at anyone who annoys him, giving him more pleasure than he’s had in years. His rollicking journey and bravura assault on the status quo as he runs out the clock leads him to come to terms with the truth and embrace the people he loves for a final hurrah. Richard Says Goodbye is a hilarious and devastating comedy drama about how one man decides to live life to the fullest at the very moment he’s faced with the end of his journey.
UNABOMB
Starring Two-time Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic, Eastern Promises), Unabomb will be directed by Robert Lorenz (Trouble With The Curve). Three-time Academy Award nominee Robert Lorenz (American Sniper, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima), Michele Weisler (The Ring 1 and 2), and Academy Award winner Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) are producing the film.
Unabomb is the enthralling true story of one of the greatest manhunts in history. FBI agent Jim Freeman (Mortensen) takes on the long unsolved case of the Unabomber, who terrorized Americans with sixteen bombings over the course of two decades. In an unprecedented show of dedication and determination, Freeman and his unconventional team travel the country piecing together a profile of the infamous hooded suspect. But the closer they get to narrowing down his identity, the more deadly and personal the attacks become in this gripping real-life thriller.
SERENITY
Starring Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club); Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway (Interstellar, Les Miserables, The Dark Knight Rises), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Everest, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes); Academy Award nominee Uma Thurman (Kill Bill series, Pulp Fiction), and Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy, Gladiator, Blood Diamond), Serenity is being produced by Academy Award winner Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty).
From Oscar nominated writer and director Steven Knight (Locke, Eastern Promises, Redemption) comes a mysterious tale of a fishing boat captain whose past is about to crash up against his life on a small island in the Caribbean and ensnare him in a new reality that might not be all it seems to be.
ZOE
Directed by Drake Doremus (Like Crazy, Equals, Breathe In), Zoe stars Golden Globe nominee Ewan McGregor (Beauty and the Beast, Fargo, Miles Ahead), Léa Seydoux (Spectre, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Christina Aguilera (Burlesque, ABC’s Nashville), Theo James (The Secret Scripture, Divergent series), Rashida Jones (The Social Network, Angie Tribeca) and Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings film franchise, Showtime’s Homeland).
Produced by Scott Free (The Martian, Gladiator, Prometheus) and written by Rich Greenberg (The Beauty Inside), the story follows two colleagues (played by McGregor and Seydoux) at a revolutionary research lab who design technology to improve and perfect romantic relationships. As their work progresses, their discoveries become more profound than they could ever have imagined.
ESCAPE
Starring Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy (Split, Atonement, X-Men Franchise, Wanted), Escape is written by Vanya Asher and will be Directed by Colm McCarthy (The Girl with All the Gifts). Acclaimed writer and producer David Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Man of Steel); Kevin Turen (All Is Lost, Arbitrage, 99 Homes) and BAFTA nominee and British Independent Film Award winner Camille Gatin (The Girl with All the Gifts) are producing the film.
Caught in Sarajevo as the city is turned into an explosive battleground, a professor (McAvoy) sacrifices his own safety to stay behind and continue teaching. But as the massacre escalates, his window of opportunity to join his family is quickly closing and he must fight his way out amidst the turmoil. The film is a tension-filled harrowing and heartbreaking tale about a man caught between dedication to family and country.
DOMINO
Directed by Brian De Palma (Mission: Impossible, Scarface, The Untouchables), Domino stars Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones, Oblivion, The Other Woman) and six time Emmy award nominee Christina Hendricks (Drive, The Neon Demon, Mad Men), is written by Petter Skavlan (Kon-Tiki, Sophie’s World) and produced by Peter Garde and Michel Schønnemann.
In this fast-paced thriller, legendary director Brian De Palma weaves a multi-national tale about Christian (Coster-Waldau), a Copenhagen police officer seeking justice for his partner’s murder by a mysterious man called Imran. In a world wracked by terror and suspicion, Christian and Alex (Hendricks), a fellow cop and his late partner’s mistress, embark on a mission to hunt Imran down, but are unwittingly caught in a cat and mouse chase with a duplicitous CIA agent who is using Imran as a pawn to trap ISIS members. Soon Christian and Alex are racing against the clock – not only seeking revenge, but to save their own lives. From the frosty cities of Scandinavia to the sun-drenched landscapes of Spain, De Palma sets up a spectacular battle of multiple opposing forces and leaves the audience breathless until the climactic moment when we learn who will be the last person to survive.
SIBERIA
Directed by Matthew Ross (Frank & Lola) Siberia stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix trilogy, John Wick franchise, Speed). Written by Academy Award Nominee Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan), the film is based on the treatment by Stephen Hamel and is produced by Hamel and Reeves of Company Films and Gabriela Bacher of Summerstorm / Film House Germany, Braden Aftergood and David Hansen.
An American diamond merchant travels to Russia to sell rare blue diamonds of questionable origin. As the deal begins to collapse he falls into an obsessive relationship with a Russian cafe owner in a small Siberian town. As their passion builds, so does the treacherous world of the diamond trade from which he is unable to extricate himself. Both collide as the American man desperately looks for escape in a world with no exit.
MY GENERATION
My Genration is directed by David Batty (Maggie and Me, The Cult of the Suicide Bomber) and written by Emmy award winner Ian La Frenais (The Bank Job, Across the Universe, Still Crazy) and Emmy award winner Dick Clement (The Bank Job, Across the Universe, Still Crazy). Michael Caine, 14 time Emmy award nominee Simon Fuller (American Idol, Pop Idol, So You Think You Can Dance), Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly serve as producers.
My Genration is a perceptive and entertaining journey through the “Swinging Sixties” and the societal upheaval that still resonates today in the UK and around the world, told with film clips, archival footage, music of the era, and the participation of Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Mary Quant, Marianne Faithfull, and many other icons. Michael Caine, with his unique viewpoint and gifts as a raconteur, serves as our guide through the cultural revolution that rocked the world in the ‘60s with an insider’s unique, humorous and moving insights.
THE PUTIN INTERVIEWS
Written and directed by three-time Academy Award winner Oliver Stone (JFK, Snowden, Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon, Midnight Express, Natural Born Killers), The Putin Interviews is produced by Fernando Sulichin (The Untold History of the United States, South of the Border, Snowden, Malcolm X), New Element Media and Rob Wilson.
With unprecedented access to Vladimir Putin’s professional and personal worlds, Oscar-winning writer and director Oliver Stone interviewed the Russian leader more than a dozen times over the course of two years, most recently in February following the U.S. presidential elections. Since first becoming the president of Russia in 2000, Putin has never before been asked such deeply probing questions nor spoken at such length nor in such detail to a Western interviewer, leaving no topic off limits. In this riveting documentary, provocateur Stone takes us behind the closed doors of the Kremlin and Putin’s official residence outside of Moscow to crack open Putin’s icy facade with surprising results. An important, historic and entertaining not-to-be missed documentary.
