By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

PHASE 4 FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. AND CANADIAN RIGHTS TO ALEX GIBNEY’S THE LAST GLADIATORS

Posted Thursday, September 20th, 2012 - Comments Off on PHASE 4 FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. AND CANADIAN RIGHTS TO ALEX GIBNEY’S THE LAST GLADIATORS
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Los Angeles, CA (September 20, 2012) – Berry Meyerowitz, President & CEO of Phase 4 Films, announced today that the company has acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to Academy Award® winner Alex Gibney’s (TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, ENRON) hockey documentary THE LAST GLADIATORS. Larry Weitzman, Jim Podhoretz and Gibney crafted the screenplay and produced the project, which is a Jigsaw Production in association with Northern Lights Hockey, LLC. Barry Reese, Donald “Dee” Rizzo, Michael Messner, George Gund, and Robert J. Brooks executive produced. THE LAST GLADIATORS made its premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Phase 4 will kick off the theatrical release in Canada in October 2012 with the U.S. following in early 2013. Select engagements will feature a screening of the film, followed by an audience discussion with Stanley Cup winner Chris Nilan.

AcademyAward® winning director Alex Gibney takes an unprecedented look in THE LAST GLADIATORS at the National Hockey League’s most feared enforcers and explores the career of Chris “Knuckles” Nilan. The role was simple: protect their teammates no matter the cost. For Chris this meant a shattered body, addiction to drugs, and harming the people closest to him.  But in the process, he won the love of hockey’s holy city, Montreal, and helped the team win the Stanley Cup. Through interviews with hockey’s toughest guys, the film explores what it means to enforce the unspoken code of the NHL.

Said Meyerowitz: “We are thrilled to team up with Alex Gibney to provide audiences with an opportunity to see behind the curtain of the NHL. THE LAST GLADIATORS is an incredibly inspiring, introspective and entertaining film that you will think about for a long time.”

Commented Gibney: “I’m delighted that Phase 4 is releasing THE LAST GLADIATORS, a story that revolves around the compelling character of Chris Nilan—a film I am enormously proud of.”

The deal for THE LAST GLADIATORS was negotiated by Phase 4’s Larry Greenberg and Sam Posner with Josh Braun from Submarine and Anne Atkinson from Pryor Cashman LLP on behalf of the filmmakers.

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About Phase 4 Films

Phase 4Films distributes feature films and special interest content across all traditional theatrical and new media platforms in North America. The company’s previous releases include the provocatively sexy road movie HICK, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Blake Lively, and Eddie Redmayne; 2011 Sundance award-winner ANOTHER HAPPY DAY, Sam Levinson’s dark comedy about a dysfunctional family, starring Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore, and Ezra Miller; and the Canadian tour of Kevin Smith’s RED STATE, starring Michael Parks, Melissa Leo and John Goodman. Upcoming releases for the company include Rebecca Thomas’ 2012 SXSW favorite ELECTRICK CHILDREN starring Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, and Liam Aiken; Carrie Preston’s Sundance 2012 hit comedy THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID starring Anne Heche, Marcia DeBonis, and Alia Shawkat; and Andrew Edison’s high school comedy BINDLESTIFFS, which will be released in partnership with Kevin Smith under the SModcast Pictures Presents banner.

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