Jerusha Hess’s directorial debut, Austenland, was picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions for around $4 million. The film, which stars Keri Russell and Jennifer Coolidge, follows a woman who is obsessed with a BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice to a Jane Austen themed resort to see if she can find her own personal Mr. Darcy. Hess co-wrote the script with Shannon Hale. Hess had previously co-written cult hit Napoleon Dynamite with her husband, Jared Hess.
Sony Pictures Classics will distribute the film domestically and Sony will distribute internationally.
RADiUS/The Weinstein Company has paid seven figures for Stacie Passon’s Concussion, a film that is getting excellent reviews out of Sundance. Directed and written by Passon, Concussion follows a middle-aged lesbian housewife (Robin Weigert) who after getting hit in the head by her son’s baseball, begins having desires for something else that channels her into a double life as a high-end escort.
Concussion is slated for release in early Fall 2013.
Sundance 2013: Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Nabs 'Austenland' (Exclusive) (The Hollywood Reporter)
