By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

TWC PICKS UP SEAN PENN STARRER THIS MUST BE THE PLACE BY AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER PAOLO SORRENTINO

Posted Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 - Comments Off on TWC PICKS UP SEAN PENN STARRER THIS MUST BE THE PLACE BY AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER PAOLO SORRENTINO
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Acquires All Rights For North America

New York, NY, September 21, 2011 – The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that it has acquired from the producers Lucky Red, Indigo Film and Medusa Film all rights to THIS MUST BE THE PLACE for North America. The Italian/French/Irish co-production from award-winning director Paolo Sorrentino (IL DIVO, THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE) premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as part of the official selection.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, starring Sean Penn and written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello, tells the story of an aging rock star on a journey of self-discovery. The film is produced by Nicola Giuliano and Francesca Cima for Indigo Film, Andrea Occhipinti for Lucky Red and Medusa Film in co-production with ARP in France and Element Pictures in Ireland in association with Pathè International, Italian leading banking group Banca Intesa and the support of Eurimages and the Irish Film Board.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Harvey. He has a very deep appreciation of the film and a clear vision for its release, and he loves to come to Rome,” said Sorrentino.

Said TWC COO David Glasser, “We couldn’t be happier to be working with such a talented team of filmmakers.  THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is cinematic artistry at its finest and we are very glad it’s found its home with TWC.”

TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein commented, “Sorrentino is a true auteur. We were gripped by his film and are excited to share it with American audiences. Sean proves once again that he is one of the finest actors of our time.”

The deal was negotiated for TWC by COO, David Glasser and Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Business Affairs, Michal Podell Steinberg; and for the filmmakers by Rich Klubeck and Jim Meenaghan at United Talent Agency and attorney Iddo Arad, from Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.

ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as SCREAM, SPY KIDS and SCARY MOVIE. Together TWC and Dimension Films have released a broad range of mainstream, genre and specialty films that have been commercial and critical successes, including Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH, winner of four 2011 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture.

Since 2005, TWC and Dimension Films have released such films as GRINDHOUSE; I’M NOT THERE; THE GREAT DEBATERS; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; THE ROAD; HALLOWEEN; THE PAT TILLMAN STORY; PIRANHA 3D; INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS; A SINGLE MAN; BLUE VALENTINE, THE COMPANY MEN; MIRAL; SCRE4M; and SPY KIDS 4: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D. Currently in release are I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, OUR IDIOT BROTHER and APOLLO 18. Upcoming releases include DIRTY GIRL, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN and THE ARTIST. Recently wrapped is COGAN’S TRADE.

TWC is also active in television production, with credits including the Emmy® Award-winning hit reality series “Project Runway,” the new VH1 reality series “Mob Wives,” and the critically acclaimed HBO comedy/crime series “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.” The company is producing three “Project Runway” spinoffs, “Project Runway All Stars,” “Project Runway: Masters” and “Project Runway: Accessories,” which are expected to debut in 2011. The company currently has 17 series in different stages of development, including: “Marco Polo,” a scripted historical series about the great explorer; “The Nanny Diaries,” based on the hit book; and “The Mad Ones,” adapted from the Mafia novel of the same name.

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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

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon