Media Rights Capital has approved $250 million to finance eight films from directors Robert Rodriguez, Ricky Gervais, Walter Salles, Ryan Murphy, Richard Kelly, Bennett Miller and Todd Field. Funds will come from a combination of Fortune 500 companies, Wall Street money and private equity, and investors including AT&T, Goldman Sachs and the WPP Group.
The films to be financed include Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno” as well as the following:
- “Shorts,” a film Rodriguez wrote and will direct and produce at his Austin, Texas-based Troublemaker Studios.
- “This Side of Truth,” a comedy that marks the feature directing debut of Ricky Gervais (“The Office” and “Extras”). Set in the present day in a world where the concept of lying doesn’t exist, the film focuses on a loser who changes his life when he invents lying.
- “Linha de passe,” a film Walter Salles is shooting in Brazil, about a group of brothers who struggle to escape the slums.
- “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho,” a film that “Nip/Tuck” creator-exec producer Ryan Murphy will direct in January starring Anthony Hopkins as the legendary director and Helen Mirren as his wife and longtime collaborator, Alma Reville.
- “The Box,” a previously announced horror film written and directed by Richard Kelly (“Donnie Darko”), will star Cameron Diaz and start shooting in December.
- “Foxcatcher” will be Bennett Miller’s directorial follow-up to “Capote,” a drama focusing on John E. du Pont, the paranoid schizophrenic heir who, after building the wrestling training facility Team Foxcatcher on his Pennsylvania estate, shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning grappler David Schultz.
- Details on Todd Field’s film are still under wraps.
Now let’s see who comes in on or under budget…
Read the full story at Variety>>>>
