Hot 2016 AFM Titles: What Buyers Are Buzzing About

deadline.com

by Diana Lodderhose

 November 2, 2016

The 2016 American Film Market gets underway today in Santa Monica and it’s looking like the frantic last-minute packaging has paid off for sales agents and buyers alike as there’s plenty of product on offer to feed hungry distribution mouths. There is indeed a noticeable shortage of what you would call star-driven, big-budget titles and less of the mid-budget action thrillers that were once so typical of the AFM, but there’s still a variety of smart, indie fare on offer that’s sure to find a place in the landscape.

AFM has a swathe of product on offer this year but we’ve compiled a list of titles at various stages of production that are looking the most promising and likely to be the biggest talking points for buyers out in Santa Monica this year:

IN DEVELOPMENT OR PRE-PRODUCTION

BEL CANTO – Director: Paul Weitz. Cast: Julianne Moore, Ken Watanabe, Demian Bichir. A love story set against a backdrop of immortal music, and mortal danger and based on Ann Patchett’s bestselling 2001 novel. It sees a world-renown American opera singer become trapped in a hostage situation when she’s invited to perform for a wealthy industrialist in South America. Bloom selling international, U.S. repped by WME.

JULIET, NAKED — Director: Jesse Peretz. Cast: Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, Chris O’Dowd. Based on the bestselling novel by Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked tells the story of Annie, the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan, and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, singer-songwriter, Tucker Crowe, who also happens to be the subject of Duncan’s musical obsession. Rocket Science selling international, UTA Independent Film Group and CAA repping U.S.

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY – Director: Mike Newell. Cast: Lily James. In the aftermath of WWII, free-spirited journalist Juliet Ashton forms a life-changing bond with the delightful and eccentric Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, when she decides to write about the book club they formed during wartime. Studiocanal repping sales.

THE SISTERS BROTHERS – Director-writer: Jacques Audiard. Cast: John C. Reilly. An adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s Gold Rush novel about brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss in 1851 Oregon. Wild Bunch selling.

THE BELL JAR – Director: Kirsten Dunst. Cast: Dakota Fanning, Jesse Plemons. Set in 1950s, a young woman from Boston’s suburbs wins a summer internship at a prominent women’s magazine in New York City but struggles to adapt and becomes mentally unstable. Based on Sylvia Plath’s novel. Cornerstone selling.

OPHELIA – Director: Claire McCarthy. Cast: Naomi Watts, Daisy Ridley. The story of Hamlet told from Ophelia’s perspective. CAA, Covert Media repping sales.

PINOCCHIO – Director: Matteo Garrone. Cast: Toni Servillo. A live-action feature produced by Jeremy Thomas and Jean Labadie of Carlo Collodi’s classic tale. Hanway repping sales.

ANDORRA – Director: Fred Schepisi. Cast: Gillian Anderson, Toni Collette, Clive Owen, Vanessa Redgrave. A mysterious American moves to the country of Andorra where he befriends two women. When a dead body turns up, he must prove his innocence. Celluloid Dreams selling.

IN PRODUCTION

THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN – Director: Farhad Safinia. Cast: Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Michael Nyqvist, Jeremy Irvine, Ioan Gruffudd. Based on the worldwide best-selling novel by Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman is an extraordinary true tale of madness, genius and obsession about two remarkable men who created literary history with the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary. Voltage repping sales.

ON CHESIL BEACH – Director: Dominic Cooke. Cast: Saorise Ronan, Billy Howle. Based on Ian McEwan’s book, this 1962-set story follows newlyweds Edward and Florence, both in their early 20s and also both virgins, who spend their honeymoon anxious about the upcoming consummation of their marriage. Rocket Science handling sales.

PADDINGTON 2 – Director: Paul King. Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Brendan Gleeson, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw. Happily settled with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens, Paddington has become a popular member of the community, until an a unique pop-up book in Mr. Gruber’s antique shop is stolen and it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief. David Heyman producing. Studiocanal handling international sales

I KILL GIANTS – Director: Anders Walters. Cast: Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots. Based on the Joe Kelly graphic novel, a young misfit girl battles both real and imagined monsters in her life. XYZ selling worldwide.