Wednesday brought exciting news for two female directors at Sundance: Anna Boden and Laura Gabbert sold their respective pictures, Mississippi Grind and City of Gold, in Park City.
Deadline is reporting that a U.S. rights deal, purportedly worth over $2 million, is being finalized with A24 for Mississippi Grind. The drama centers on a struggling gambler in debt (Ben Mendelsohn) who embarks on a road trip alongside a charismatic young gambling addict (Ryan Reynolds). Sienna Miller, Analeigh Tipton (Manhattan Love Story, Crazy, Stupid, Love.), and Robin Weigert (Chicago P.D., Sons of Anarchy) co-star. Boden co-directed and co-wrote Mississippi Grind with Ryan Fleck, her collaborator on It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Half Nelson.
When we asked Boden what drew her to this story, she shared, “I was excited about the story of two strangers who in many ways couldn’t be more different, but are connected by their belief in luck and chance — in magic. I was drawn especially to the friendship aspect of the story and how this new connection between two people could be alternately strengthened and weakened, deepened then undermined, by the ups and downs of gambling.”
Meanwhile, Sundance selects bought Laura Gabbert’s City of Gold. The documentary follows Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold as he reveals a different side of Los Angeles, offering a look at culinary delights and the stories of the people turning out the food, often immigrants sharing family recipes.
Yesterday, too marked a deal for a woman-helmed project. The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Magnolia Pictures has secured worldwide rights to Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack, a doc that chronicles the six Angulo brothers, nicknamed the Wolfpack, who learn about the outside world through watching films. The boys, who subsist on welfare, spend their time re-enacting their favorite films with homemade props and costumes. The deal is rumored to be in the high six figures.
“We are thrilled to be working with Magnolia. The Angulo brothers’ passion for film is a perfect fit with Magnolia’s sensibility and devotion to a diverse roster of documentary, art house and foreign cinema. We could not have imagined a better company to take on The Wolfpack,” said Moselle.
[via Deadline, The Tracking Board, and The Hollywood Reporter]
