Kassovitz himself also earned recognition at Locarno with The Excellence Award Moët & Chandon, something worth mentioning as a nice little bookend in lieu of his latest celebrated performance. Also starring are Olivia Merilahti, Souleymane M’Baye, Billie Blain and Lyes Salem with a script by Jouy and scribes Clément Roussier and Jérémie Guez.
Plot details have yet to be made known but considering Besson’s cult-acclaim and knack for otherwise buzzworthy spectacle, Anna sounds like its in good hands. All it needs now is a solid script, acting and story, and cohesive action scenes that won’t make moviegoers regret paying $20 bucks for a ticket.
Action thriller scripting duo Creighton Rothberger and Katrin Benedikt (Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen) are joining the latest production heading into pure revenge-driven sci-fi territory with the new film, The Sentence. Neil Marshall, off the stellar successes of shows like Game Of Thrones and Black Sails, as well as films like post-apocalyptic actioner, Doomsday in 2008 and 2010 period thriller Centurion, is on board to direct the film for Applebox Entertainment.
There are no plot details yet although Deadline has it on good word that film is being developed in the vein of Death Wish, which in and of itself speaks heavily to the action fanbase. In turn, one has to ask who is starring in this film for it it earn such hype? There’s no question that Marshall is a suitable helmer for this project, although can’t think of anyone off the top of my head for who would star. Rest assured, if there’s a suitable actor as badass as the late Charles Bronson was during his time to match the inspired vision, I’m sure they will find him…or her (nothing wrong with a female lead).
EuropaCorp is fully financing the film, and that is all being said about this particular project. Stay tuned for more info!
Things seem to be cooking for a while now for Luc Besson and his production company Europacorp going into 2014 with a few films releasing this year, including Brick Mansions and the August release of Besson‘s newly completed sci-fi action thriller, Lucy, featuring Scarlett Johansson. The company has also been busy formulating its partnership with Mark Gao Jingdong over at Shanghai-based film production and sales company Fundemental Films, with plans to produce and release a batch of new films, notably including the new Transporter trilogy with actor Ed Skrein that was announced in the summer of last year.
The subject of such a partnership came up in an article written as recently as nearly two weeks ago in which Clifford Coonan over at The Hollywood Reporter discussed co-production status as a means for overseas film productions to get access to the mainland and make more money without being hindered by China’s current film quota system, a system which Youku Tudou Inc. chief executive Victor Koo says would increase if more theaters were built.
On the film front, the same THR report also officially confirmed another film on the way to be co-produced by both parties in the form of a new action adventure film titled Warrior’s Gate. At the time, the story details were still unknown, but a follow-up report now concludes the plot to center on a young gamer who comes across an antique box that throws him back in time to ancient China where he eventually learns martial arts.
Sure, it sounds like we’ve already been there before and the plot sounds pretty simple as things stand, so more details will be needed in the long run to get a better analysis of what this film will look like. Meanwhile, Besson will be teaming up once more with fellow scribe Robert Mark Kamen to help bring the story to life from ink to film.
We’ll learn more about this film as the year rolls on. So stick around for further updates.
Photo: Stumped Magazine
H/T: Filmbiz Asia