Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 14, 2017 13:47:23 GMT -6
deadline.com/2017/09/arc-of-justice-indie-film-loses-chinese-wanda-financing-hawk-koch-mark-gordon-1202169934/
Wanda Pulls Financing From 'Arc Of Justice,' Indie Film From Hawk Koch And Mark Gordon
EXCLUSIVE: Last year, Dailan Wanda Group joined with veteran filmmakers Hawk Koch and Mark Gordon to create an independent/awards-caliber film division called The O Project. The first film was to be the $12.5M budgeted drama that both Russell Crowe and David Oyelowo were negotiating to star. Arc of Justice, which was to go before the cameras on Oct. 1 with helmer José Padilha, has just run aground. That gritty courtroom drama based on the book Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, is now in limbo because the Chinese government has placed restrictions on investment into the U.S. and that includes film production causing Wanda to pull out.
Arc of Justice sounds like one heck of a timely story. It’s based on a true story — a racially-charged incident in Detroit that ended with an African American doctor Ossian Sweet (Oyelowo) charged with murder and the NAACP mounting a defense led by Clarence Darrow (who was to be played by Crowe) in 1925 Detroit. Both actors Crowe who won Best Actor for Gladiator and has been nominated twice (A Beautiful Mind, The Insider) and Oyelowo (who gave an Oscar-worthy performance in Selma) had been well into negotiations when the money was yanked by Wanda.
The filmmakers are now looking for other financing or will have to wait until the end of October when the Chinese next party Congress reconvenes to decide whether to open the purse strings for further Chinese investment in the U.S. Perhaps a financier/distributor in town will pick up the ball and run with it on what is a worthy undertaking.
Boyle’s book — which won numerous awards including the National Book Award — was adapted for the screen by Rodney Barnesa and Max Borenstein.
Wanda Pulls Financing From 'Arc Of Justice,' Indie Film From Hawk Koch And Mark Gordon
EXCLUSIVE: Last year, Dailan Wanda Group joined with veteran filmmakers Hawk Koch and Mark Gordon to create an independent/awards-caliber film division called The O Project. The first film was to be the $12.5M budgeted drama that both Russell Crowe and David Oyelowo were negotiating to star. Arc of Justice, which was to go before the cameras on Oct. 1 with helmer José Padilha, has just run aground. That gritty courtroom drama based on the book Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, is now in limbo because the Chinese government has placed restrictions on investment into the U.S. and that includes film production causing Wanda to pull out.
Arc of Justice sounds like one heck of a timely story. It’s based on a true story — a racially-charged incident in Detroit that ended with an African American doctor Ossian Sweet (Oyelowo) charged with murder and the NAACP mounting a defense led by Clarence Darrow (who was to be played by Crowe) in 1925 Detroit. Both actors Crowe who won Best Actor for Gladiator and has been nominated twice (A Beautiful Mind, The Insider) and Oyelowo (who gave an Oscar-worthy performance in Selma) had been well into negotiations when the money was yanked by Wanda.
The filmmakers are now looking for other financing or will have to wait until the end of October when the Chinese next party Congress reconvenes to decide whether to open the purse strings for further Chinese investment in the U.S. Perhaps a financier/distributor in town will pick up the ball and run with it on what is a worthy undertaking.
Boyle’s book — which won numerous awards including the National Book Award — was adapted for the screen by Rodney Barnesa and Max Borenstein.