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LIONSGATE AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS JOIN FORCES TO TAKE ON WILL FERRELL STARRER EVERYTHING MUST GO

Posted Saturday, September 18th, 2010 - Comments Off on LIONSGATE AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS JOIN FORCES TO TAKE ON WILL FERRELL STARRER EVERYTHING MUST GO
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Steve Beeks, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Lionsgate Films, and Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, co-Presidents of Roadside Attractions, jointly announced today that the companies have partnered to acquire U.S. distribution rights to the Will Ferrell-starrer EVERYTHING MUST GO which recently had its World Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Adapted and directed by Dan Rush, making his feature directorial debut, and based on a short story by Raymond Carver, EVERYTHING MUST GO tells the story of Nick Porter (Will Ferrell) a career salesman whose days of being on top are long gone.  The same day Nick gets fired, for falling off the wagon one last time, he returns home to discover his wife has left him, changed the locks on their suburban home and dumped all his possessions out on the front yard.  Faced with his life imploding, Nick puts it all on the line – or more properly, on the lawn – reluctantly holding a yard sale that becomes a unique strategy for survival. EVERYTHING MUST GO also stars Rebecca Hall, Christopher Wallace and Laura Dern. The film was produced by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey of Temple Hill Productions.

Roadside will take on theatrical duties and Lionsgate will handle all home entertainment platforms, including DVD, Blu-Ray, VOD and digital. A spring 2011 release is planned.

“We are very much looking forward to the opportunity to work with Temple Hill and Will Ferrell and are proud to be bringing this unique and special film to audiences,” notes Beeks. “We have a terrific working relationship with Roadside Attractions, and are thrilled to continue to grow and expand our partnership with this deal.”

“People will be wowed by Will Ferrell’s versatility with this incredibly soulful and emotional, and of course funny, performance,” says Roadside’s d’Arbeloff.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate on this movie,” notes producer Bowen. “I worked with Howard Cohen for many years and know how dedicated he and Eric are to making sure American filmgoers get to see excellent movies. Dan Rush has done a wonderful job and Will Ferrell’s performance will amaze people.”

“This deal represents an expansion of Lionsgate’s strategy targeting specialty films deserving of a quality theatrical release by leveraging our partnership with Roadside,” said Ron Schwartz, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Lionsgate. “We look forward to making more acquisitions of high caliber films like this in the future.”

The deal was negotiated by Schwartz and Marc Danon, Senior Director of Home Entertainment and Business Development, for Lionsgate, Cohen for Roadside, and on behalf of the filmmakers by ICM, which represents Dan Rush, and CAA, which represents Ferrell and Dern. Rush is also repped by Management 360.

About Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate is the leading next generation studio with a strong and diversified presence in the production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury and an array of channel assets.  Lionsgate currently has 15 shows on more than 10 networks spanning its prime time production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as  the Emmy Award-winning “Mad Men”, “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie” along with new series such as “Blue Mountain State” and “Running Wilde” and the syndication successes “Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne”, its spin-off “Meet The Browns”, “The Wendy Williams Show” and the recently announced “Are We There Yet?”.

Its feature film business has generated such recent hits as THE EXPENDABLES, which was #1 at the North American box office for two weeks, THE LAST EXORCISM, TYLER PERRY’S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?, KICK ASS and the critically-acclaimed PRECIOUS, which won two Academy Awards(R). The Company’s home entertainment business has grown to more than 7% market share and is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD revenue conversion rate.  Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 12,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company’s core businesses. The Lionsgate brand remains synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

About Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is a film distribution company committed to championing independent films with a willingness to entertain. The company works with filmmakers to devise innovative marketing strategies that encourage audiences to see films that are not typical studio fare.  Roadside Attractions’ 2009 release THE COVE captured the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Among its 2010 releases are Debra Granik’s critically-hailed WINTER’S BONE, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s BIUTIFUL, for which Javier Bardem captured the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and the outrageous comedy I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.  The company recently partnered with Lionsgate to acquire Robert Redford’s THE CONSPIRATOR starring James McAvoy and Robin Wright, and will distribute the film in 2011.

About Temple Hill Productions
Temple Hill is currently in post-production on Dark Tide, in pre-production on Jamie Linden’s directorial debut “Ten Year” and is currently shooting Breaking Dawn 1 and 2 in Baton Rouge.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon