By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT OPTIONS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE RIGHTS TO “A PROPHET”

Posted Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 - Comments Off on SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT OPTIONS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE RIGHTS TO “A PROPHET”
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CULVER CITY, Calif., June 5, 2013 – Sony Pictures Entertainment has optioned the rights to remake A Prophet, the French hit released in the US in 2010, into an English language film to be produced by Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe through the Original Film banner, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for the studio.

Directed by Jacques Audiard, the film tells the story of a young man’s rise to power in a criminal syndicate after he is mentored by a crime boss. A Prophet was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film in 2010 and was honored with the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and nine César Awards (French Oscar), including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor.

Commenting on the announcement, Moritz said, “This is an epic crime saga with compelling characters and original storytelling. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to make an English language version of the film and I am grateful to have the trust of Jacques Audiard and his producers, as well as the writers Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Peufaillit, and Abdel Raouf Dafri.”

Commenting on the announcement, Minghella said, “We think A Prophet will translate perfectly for English-speaking audiences.  Obviously, we love working with Neal and he has a great track record with this kind of film – we’re confident that our film will excite audiences in the same way that the original material did.”

 

NEAL H. MORITZ, the founder of Original Film, most recently produced Fast & Furious 6, which was released this month and had the biggest opening weekend in franchise history.  He is currently in post-production on R.I.P.D.  He is slated to begin production this year on a remake of Highlander; an adaptation of the beloved children’s book series “Goosebumps”; 22 Jump Street for Sony Pictures, as well as Fast and Furious 7.  With more than 50 films to Moritz’s credit, his past titles include 21 Jump Street, The Change-Up, Battle: Los Angeles, The Green Hornet, The Fast and the Furious franchise, I Am Legend, xXx, S.W.A.T., Made of Honor, Gridiron Gang, The Bounty Hunter, Evan Almighty, Sweet Home Alabama, Click, Vantage Point, Out of Time, Blue Streak, CruelIntentions, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Skulls, Volcano, Urban Legend andJuice. Original Film’s box-office total is more than $2 billion worldwide.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information.

 

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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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~ David Simon