Radius-TWC, the new Weinstein Company label, announced today it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Only God Forgives, a crime thriller written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Only God Forgives reunites the filmmaker with actor Ryan Gosling, who starred in Refn’s recent critical and popular hit, Drive. Kristin Scott Thomas (Sarah’s Key) and Tom Burke (Cheri) costar.
The producers are Wild Bunch, Gaumont, and Lene Borglum, an executive producer of Refn’s 2009 film, Valhalla Rising. The announcement was made by Radius-TWC Co-Presidents Tom Quinn and Jason Janego.
Only God Forgives is currently in production in Bangkok, Thailand. This will be the fifth Refn film Quinn and Janego have distributed; during their tenure at Magnolia Pictures, they worked on the Danish director’s “Pusher” trilogy, as well as Bronson, a biopic about the UK’s most notorious prisoner. Radius-TWC also recently acquired domestic rights to Luis Prieto’s English-language remake of Pusher, which is executive produced by Refn.
Said Quinn and Janego, “In ‘Drive,’ we witnessed the birth of a genuine and utterly exhilarating cinematic partnership: Refn and Gosling. Their success stems from Refn’s unparalleled ability to create audacious anti-heroes and the ease with which Gosling inhabits these characters and imbues them with an untouchable, steely cool. Combine that with an extraordinary villainess, the matriarch played by Kristin Scott Thomas, and ‘Only God Forgives’ is sure to become a mesmerizing and provocative revenge classic. We couldn’t be more proud and elated to have this film on the Radius slate.”
Remarked Refn, “I am looking forward to continuing to work with Tom Quinn which we’ve done on 5 previous films. The combination with Harvey Weinstein and his team makes the future look even more promising and exciting for me.”
In Only God Forgives, Julian (Gosling) is a former kickboxer and gangster living in Bangkok. When his brother is murdered by a ruthless Thai police lieutenant, Julian is forced to seek vengeance or risk his own death.
