Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Weinstein Buys World Rights

From Cannes - The Weinstein Company featuring uber Hollywoodteurs Harvey and Bob Weinstein has won a quiet but fevered bidding battle for worldwide distribution rights to the next and still untitled film from Paul Thomas Anderson. With production set for June 13th, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix - the Weinstein are probably already mapping out their Oscar 2012 strategies. This Anderson's first lensing since Oscar winner There Will Be Blood with {talent rather than red carpets, random twits, fb posts, unauthorized sex tape leaks} Daniel Day Lewis.

The project was auctioned off last week at CAA Hollywoodteur headquarters. While Hoffman and Phoenix are locked in, actresses are holding their tresses as Anderson continues to eye femme leads Madisen Beaty (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Amy Adams, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo's Lena Endre and the often overlooked yet phenom Laura Dern.

This is "The Master" project that Anderson has been working on for some time now. Hoffman stars as a man who returns after witnessing the horrors of WWII and tries to rediscover who he is in post-war America. In his new journey he creates a belief system that captures and rallies other lost souls.

The film is fully financed by Megan Ellison's Annapurna banner. Ellison is rapidly emerging as a godsend to Hollywoodteur indie auteur projects, as she enables Anderson to make the movie in the $35 million budget range after Universal stepped away.

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