By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Ira Sach’s Sundance Drama Little Men Goes To Magnolia

Posted Thursday, February 11th, 2016 - Comments Off on Ira Sach’s Sundance Drama Little Men Goes To Magnolia
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MAGNOLIA PICTURES TAKES U.S. RIGHTS TO IRA SACHS’ ‘LITTLE MEN’ STARRING GREG KINNEAR, JENNIFER EHLE, PAULINA GARCIA, AND SUNDANCE BREAKTHROUGHS THEO TAPLITZ AND MICHAEL BARBIERI

Distrib takes Sachs’ New York-set sixth feature,
one of the most acclaimed films of this year’s Sundance Film Festival

New York, New York (February 11, 2016)  – Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired U.S. rights to Ira Sachs’ LITTLE MEN, to be released later this year theatrically. Directed by Sachs, the film stars Academy Award Nominee Greg Kinnear (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, AS GOOD AS IT GETS), Jennifer Ehle (ZERO DARK THIRTY, 50 SHADES OF GREY), Paulina Garcia (Netflix’s NARCOS, GLORIA), and introduces two young stars, Theo Taplitz and Michael Barbieri. LITTLE MEN, Sachs’ sixth feature, was praised by audiences and critics when it premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and makes its international premiere this weekend at the Berlin International Film Festival. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film “beautiful,” saying that it “sneaks up and slays you with its emotional authenticity.”

 

LITTLE MEN simultaneously follows the friendship formed between 13-year-olds Jake (Taplitz) and Tony (Barbieri), and an increasingly tense dispute between their parents (Kinnear, Ehle, Garcia) – all set against a backdrop of the ever-changing socioeconomic situation in modern New York. The film is the third collaboration between Sachs and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias, following the critically acclaimed art-house hits LOVE IS STRANGE and KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, each recipients of multiple Independent Spirit Award and Gotham nominations.

“LITTLE MEN is a true gem of a film,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “Ira Sachs has consistently been making beautiful, even-handed stories with rich, real-life characters and we’re really looking forward to working together on this one.”
“For many years, I’ve wanted to find the right film to work on with Eamonn,” said Sachs. “The response to LITTLE MEN from the whole team at Magnolia was passionate and smart, the two most important qualities of independent distribution.”

 

Directed by Ira Sachs, and written by Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias,  LITTLE MEN was produced by Lucas Joaquin, Ira Sachs, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, L.A. Teodosio, and Jim Landé, and executive produced by Tom Dolby, Dom Genest, Matthew Helderman, Daniella Kahane, Lars Knudsen, David Kyle, Sophie Mas, Melissa Pinsly, Blythe Robertson, Lourenço Sant’Anna, Hugh Schulze, Luke Taylor, Rodrigo Teixeira, Jay Van Hoy, Franklin Zitter; presented by Race Point Films, Faliro House, Buffalo 8, and Charlie Guidance Productions, in association with Parts & Labor, Raptor Films, Water’s End Productions, and RT Features.

 

The deal was negotiated by Magnolia SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and Magnolia VP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden, with  WME Global and Paul Brennan of Bruns, Brennan & Berry on behalf of the filmmakers.

 

About MAGNOLIA PICTURES

  

Magnolia Pictures is the theatrical and home entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, a vertically-integrated group of media properties co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban that also includes the Landmark Theatres chain and AXS TV. Recent releases include Swedish Oscar selection and Golden Globe nominee FORCE MAJEURE, acclaimed documentary IRIS from Albert Maysles, Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner THE WOLFPACK, Buckley vs. Vidal doc BEST OF ENEMIES from Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon, Sean Baker’s TANGERINE, Alex Gibney’s STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE, Andrew Bujalski’s RESULTS,  Michael Almereyda’s Stanley Milgram biopic EXPERIMENTER, and Roy Andersson’s A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE. Upcoming releases include Tobias Lindholm’s A WAR, adventure thriller THE WAVE, Arnaud Desplechin’s MY GOLDEN DAYS, Terence Davies’ SUNSET SONG, and many more.

 

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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?

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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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