Ellen Page starred in and produced two films at TIFF this year, but most of the spotlight has shone on her hotly anticipated civil rights drama “Freeheld.” Now comes word that her “other” movie at the fest, Canadian writer-director Patricia Rozema’s “Into the Forest,” will likely be sold to A24.
The indie distributor is in negotiations to acquire the North American rights for the tale of two sisters (Page and Evan Rachel Wood) struggling to survive the elements, intruders and one another in the wake of a mass power outage set in the not-so-distant future. The deal for the film is said to be in the low seven figures. Lionsgate and CBS also put forward bids.
“Into the Forest” was one of our most anticipated movies at TIFF. At the world premiere of the film, an adaptation of Jean Hegland’s novel, Page, Wood and Rozema spoke about the difficulties of funding a female-driven film. The fact that the drama starred two women made it more challenging to find financing. Wood was vocal about the lack of complex roles available for women in Hollywood and about how she welcomed the rare opportunity to act alongside a female peer.
In an interview with Women and Hollywood, Rozema explained that she was drawn to the story because of the “plausibility of the premise,” which felt “both real and fable-like at the same time, visceral and yet dreamlike.”
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
