By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP ON WHIT STILLMAN’S Violet Wister’s DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

Posted Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 - Comments Off on SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP ON WHIT STILLMAN’S Violet Wister’s DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
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NEW YORK, NY (March 29, 2011) –Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they will release Oscar nominated Whit Stillman’s latest film Violet Wister’s DAMSELS IN DISTRESS worldwide. Martin Shafer and Liz Glotzer produced alongside Stillman, who also wrote the screenplay.

The film stars Greta Gerwig (GREENBERG, upcoming ARTHUR remake), Adam Brody (THE ROMANTICS, upcoming SCREAM 4) and Analeigh Tipton (CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE with Steve Carrell, America’s Next Top Model).

Violet Wister’s DAMSELS IN DISTRESS is a comedy that follows a trio of beautiful girls who set out to revolutionize life at a grungy East Coast university – the dynamic leader Violet Wister (Gerwig), principled Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and sexy Heather (Carrie MacLemore).  They welcome transfer student Lily (Tipton) into their group which seeks to help severely depressed students with a program of good scent and musical dance numbers. The girls become romantically entangled with a series of men –including slick Charlie (Brody), dreamboat Xavier (Hugo Becker) and the mad frat pack of Frank (Ryan Metcalf) and Thor (Billy Magnussen)—who threaten the girls’ friendship and sanity.

“We’ve long admired Whit’s films and Violet Wister’s DAMSELS IN DISTRESS marries his unique sensibility with the kind of acerbic comedy audiences love. That Martin and Liz are producing the film alongside Whit makes this the perfect partnership for Sony Pictures Classics,” states Sony Pictures Classics.

Producer Martin Shafer adds, “After having worked with Sony Pictures Classics on several films in the past and with Whit on his last two pictures, I am thrilled for us all to be united on Violet Wister’s DAMSELS IN DISTRESS.”

SPC, whose enthusiasm for the project came at the script stage, previously collaborated with Martin Shafer under his Castle Rock Entertainment banner on John Sayles’ LONESTAR, Christopher Guest’s WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, Richard Linklater’s SUBURBIA and Kenneth Branaugh’s A MIDWINTER’S TALE and SLEUTH.

The film was privately financed and entirely filmed in New York State.  Physical production was supervised by Co-Producer Charlie Dibe and Line Producer Jacob Jaffke.

Stillman’s previous credits include METROPOLITAN, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, as well as Castle Rock’s THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO and BARCELONA.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard serve as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous division of Sony Pictures Entertainment they founded with Marcie Bloom in January 1992, which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from around the world.

Barker and Bernard have released prestigious films that have won 25 Academy Awards® (24 of those at Sony Pictures Classics) and have garnered over 100 Academy Award® nominations (92 at Sony Pictures Classics) including Best Picture nominations for AN EDUCATION, CAPOTE, HOWARDS END, AND CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services, and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in more than 100 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found at http://www.sonypictures.com.

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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.”
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