Sundance kicked off a few days ago and the business side of the Park City fest is just heating up. The largest indie fest in the U.S. is hosting the world premieres of 100 films, many of which are seeking distribution. Keira Knightley and Debra Granik’s latest offerings have both scored deals.
Described by Deadline as “the first major deal on the ground,” Bleecker Street and 30 West teamed up to buy the U.S. rights to Knightley-starrer “Colette.” The bidding started at $4 million, and with multiple parties interested, the period drama ended up going for mid-seven figures.
The pic sees two-time Oscar nominee Knightley playing “a young country woman who marries a famous literary entrepreneur in turn-of-the-century Paris,” the source writes. “At her husband’s request, Colette pens a series of bestselling novels published under his name.” Knightley has been receiving raves for her performance. Directed by Wash Westmoreland, the film is expected to hit theaters sometime this year. Westmoreland penned the script with “Still Alice” collaborator Richard Glatzer and “Ida” scribe Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
“With the rise of Netflix and Amazon we’re seeing some strong female characters and female stories on streaming services. I don’t know about films as much,” Knightley said while promoting “Colette.” “I don’t really do films set in the modern day because the female characters nearly always get raped. I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas I’ve always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces. There’s been some improvement. I’m suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren’t raped in the first five pages and aren’t simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife.”
Sony Worldwide Acquisitions snagged international rights to Granik’s “Leave No Trace,” a drama about a father (Ben Foster) and daughter (Harcourt McKenzie) who live in the remote Oregon woods. Deadline reports that the deal excludes North America — the pic is still looking for a home stateside. Granik wrote the script with Anne Rosellini, with whom she also collaborated on “Winter’s Bone,” Jennifer Lawrence’s breakout film.
