In what could be the first of a series of sales or co-development deals with the UK industry, the powerful, and eclectic French sales company UGC DA International has boarded My Son, The Fanatic.
Produced by Chris Curling's Zephyr for BBC Films, the project will be directed by Udayan Prasad, whose BBC feature film debut, Brothers in Trouble, was a hot ticket at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival. Budgeted at US$3 million, My Son, The Fanatic was scripted by Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette, London Kills Me, The Buddha of Suburbia).
Producer Chris Curling is looking to access a final, 30% top-up financing for the film from the UK's National Lottery.
UGC DA will handle all rights outside the UK and Ireland, although it will be "working with the BBC" for a US domestic sale, said UGC DA Deputy MD, Patrick Binet. The film is currently casting and will shoot in September, to be ready for delivery in early 1997. "Having just acquired Lumiere, it's important for us to start investing in UK production."
UGC was "very keen" on UK production, he added. Under Jean Cazes, Lumière initiated a UK production base. My Son, The Fanatic treads typical Kureishi territory, being a contemporary comedy, set in Northern England, and turning on Asian fundamentalism.John Hopewell
Taking Cannes by Storm
H. Michael Heuser, a founder and principal of August Entertainment, has chosen Cannes to launch Storm Entertainment, a new production, financing and international sales company which has four new films in various stages of production.
The Storm slate includes Gregory Haynes' adventure drama Heaven or Vegas with, Richard Grieco and Yasmine Bleeth, in post-production; Josh Evan's black comedy Gangster Glam, which starts principal photography this week, with Billy McNamara, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Frank Whaley and Tony Danza starring; John Feldman's romantic comedy Friends of Friends, which starts principal photography 28 June, with Saffron Burrows, Sherilyn Fenn, Carla Cugino, Kevin Anderson and Bruce Feldman; and Andy Wolk's Nevada, a contemporary drama now in pre-production for a 1 August start. Heuser has offers out to Gabrielle Anwar, Jane March and Angus MacFadyen. Christopher Pickard\Lakeshore Entertainment has announced production of Somebody's Sins, the new film by I Shot Andy Warhol director Tom Kalin. It will be executive- produced by the company's Tom Rosenberg, Ted Tannebaum, John Sighvatsson, and Nick Wechsler of Addis/Wechsler & Associates. Production is scheduled to start in late 1996.
Following its restructuring, UK-based production and distribution outfit United Media announced its forthcoming slate of feature film productions. They include Reg Gadney's action-thriller Larsen's War; Julian Richards' thriller Deadly Asylum; Schreiber's Secret, a courtroom thriller scripted by John Hopkins; and the fugitive thriller The Hunt for Jack the Ripper.
Leading Australian actor Richard Roxburgh has been signed for Australian director/writer Chris Kennedy's new feature, Doing Time for Patsy Cline, handled by Southern Star. Roxburgh was a sensation on stage as Hamlet and won an Australian TV award for his performance in Blue Murder.
Following its debut project, A Fistful of Fingers, London-based producers Zygi Kamasa and Daniel Figuero of Scorpio Productions have set a start date for an adaptation of a Thomas Hardy story entitled The Scarlet Tunic. It is directed by Stuart St Paul (The Usual Children). Executive producer is William P. Cartlidge (Educating Rita) and stars include Jean-Marc Barr (Le Grand Bleu), and Bob Peck (JUrassic Park). Canal + is first to sign up for rights, but Senator is expected to ink by market's end for Germany, with Chrysalis for world sales.
Eastern saga
Following the fortunes of Czech and Slovak cinemas is like keeping a close eye on a crap game at Las Vegas.
Take the privatisation saga of the Barrandov Studios in Prague. First Vaclav Marhoul was elected studio head, then fired by his peers when he dared to trim costs by dismissing most of the employees, then suddenly in charge again when he bought his way in with the backing of bank investors. Today, Barrandov, geared to new media opportunities instead of film production, is said to be making money for the first time since the Velvet Revolution.
By contrast, in neighbouring Slovakia, the Koliba Studios were not privatised until the summer of 1995. Production had ground practically to a standstill ever since the breakaway from the Czechs, save for some French co-production input and the presence of Universal (Dragoon Heart) on the lot. Talented, hungry filmmakers, however, met the challenge with low-budget festival winners. Czech director Jan Sverak's Ride won the Grand Prix at the 1995 Karlovy Vary festival, while Slovak director Martin Sulik's Garden did the same at the 1995 Cottbus Festival of Eastern European Films.Ron Holloway
German heartthrob and megastar Til Schweiger (Der bewegte Mann, Männerpension) has joined Polly Walker, John Hurt, Pete Postlethwaite and Anthony Higgins in Maciej Dejczer's Brute, which is currently shooting in Poland. According to Edouard Douek, who shares the producers credits with Lew Rywin and Leonardo de la Fuento, the film marks Schweiger's first major role in a real drama. Based on the award-winning screenplay by Cezary Harasimowicz, Brute is the story of a violent and totally primitive criminal (Schweiger) who is sent on a rehabilitation programme in a Romanian orphanage.
