Anchor Bay takes 'Touchback'
Kurt Russell stars in football fantasy
'Touchback'
Anchor Bay Films has acquired North American rights to inspirational drama "Touchback," starring Kurt Russell, Brian Presley, Melanie Lynskey, Christine Lahti, Drew Powell and Marc Blucas.
Anchor Bay president Bill Clark announced the deal, which was negotiated during the American Film Market, on Wednesday.
"Touchback" is written and directed by Don Handfield and produced by Freedom Films' Brian Presley, Kevin Matusow and Carissa Buffel. Hannibal Classics is handling foreign sales.
Presley portrays a struggling farmer who bitterly wonders how his life might have been different if he had not scored the winning touchdown in the Ohio State High School Championship game years ago -- and suddenly finds himself back in time to the week of the championship game.
Deal was negotiated by Kevin Kasha of Anchor Bay Films and Jay Cohen from Gersh LA.
Tags: Touchback / Kurt Russell / Anchor Bay / Melanie Lynskey / Christine Lahti
Lather up the beefcake! Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey are teaming up for Thunder Run, an all CG 3D action thriller being made by Freedom Films.
Simon West is set to direct, according to Freedom Film, while Hyde Park International is handling international sales.
The movie is adapting the novel Thunder Run - The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad, by Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent David Zucchino and Mark Bowden. Robert Port, who won an Oscar in 2003 for best short documentary, and Ken Nolan, who co-wrote Black Hawk Down, penned the script.
The project aims to recount the capture of Baghdad by American forces at the start of the Iraq War in 2003. The three-day assault was referred as a “lightning strike” or “thunder run.” The producers want to paint “the harrowing picture of the soldiers on the front lines and the realities of modern warfare.”
The Graphic Film Company has been tapped to utilize proprietary facial-capture technology it used on West’s upcoming Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D movie along with the motion capture technology used in Avatar, said Freedom Films.
Producing are Freedom Films’ Brian Presley, along with the company’s Carissa Buffel and Kevin Matusow as well as Jib Polhemus of the Graphic Film Company.
The trio's work will consist mostly of voicework but there will be green-screen aspects as well.
“What we capture in our cameras will be them,” Presley told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’ll have a stylized effect to it but we are shooting them. We’re not ageing them down like Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy, it’ll be them for two hours in a highly intense tank battle.
“The scope of the movie is going to feel huge and thegoal is to appeal to the Call of Duty world. It’s not going to have a video game world feel but to have a stylized look to it.
"We’re locked and loaded and will shoot next year."
Thunder Run is repped by Gersh and CAA. Gersh also reps Freedom Films.
Butler is repped by CAA and Alan Siegel Entertainment, Worthington by CAA and Anonymous Content, McConaughey by CAA and attorney Kevin Morris. West is also repped by CAA.
Tags: Touchback / Kurt Russell / Anchor Bay / Melanie Lynskey / Christine Lahti / Touchback / Kurt Russell / Anchor Bay / Hollywood Reporter / Gerard Butler / Sam Worthington / Matthew McConaughey / Freedom Films / Thunder Run / Simon West / Brian Presley
Freedom Films is going to Iraq, tapping Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey to topline "Thunder Run" with Simon West set to direct the story of the capture of Baghdad in 2003.
Brian Presley, CEO of Freedom Films, made the announcement Thursday. Presley will produce alongside Carissa Buffel and Kevin Matusow of Freedom Films and Jib Polhemus of The Graphic Film Company.
Hyde Park Intl. has signed on for international sales at the American Film Market.
Movie, to be shown in 3D, is based on the novel "Thunder Run -- The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad," by David Zucchino. Robert Port and Ken Nolan, screenwriter of "Black Hawk Down," will adapt.
Producers said The Graphic Film Company will utilize proprietary facial-capture technology they used on West's upcoming "Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3-D" along with the motion capture technology used in "Avater."
Pressley said "Thunder Run'"will be the first conventional war film made to utilize the particular facial and motion capture technology along with state of the art CG and 3D. He said he's been working with West for the past five years on the project.
"Thunder Run" will focus on three battalions and fewer than a thousand men launching a violent thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the heart Baghdad in April 2003. That started a three-day blitzkrieg, which military professionals often refer to as a lightning strike, or "thunder run.
Tags: Touchback / Kurt Russell / Anchor Bay / Melanie Lynskey / Christine Lahti / Touchback / Kurt Russell / Anchor Bay / Hollywood Reporter / Gerard Butler / Sam Worthington / Matthew McConaughey / Freedom Films / Thunder Run / Simon West / Brian Presley / Variety / Thunder Run / Freedom Films / Gerard Butler / Sam Worthington / Matthew McConaughey / Simon West / The Graphic Film Company / Brian Presley
Freedom Films welcomes you to it's fully revamped website. Please explore, share, and enjoy news on our upcoming slate of films, including the action-war film Thunder Run to be directed this summer by Simon West and the newly completed football drama Touchback. Lots more to announce soon.
