22 October, 2007
‘TRUMBO’, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, tells the story of multi-Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who penned some of the classics films of the Hollywood studio system – including ‘Roman Holiday’ and ‘The Brave One’ – despite being blackballed by Senator McCarthy’s Un-American Activities Committee in the late 1940s.
Emotionally stirring and downright hilarious, performances of his letters are read by an all-star cast including Joan Allen, Michael Douglas, Paul Giammati, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn and Donald Sutherland. They tell the story of his enforced exile and his final triumph against the perversities of McCarthyism.
The film is directed by Peter Askin (Company Man), and based on the original play by Christopher Trumbo – Dalton’s son. The feature is produced by Safehouse Pictures’ Will Battersby and Tory Tunnell (Awake) and Filbert Steps’ Alan Klingenstein and David Viola (Runaway). The deal was brokered on behalf of the producers by William Morris Independent.
The film is completed and will have its market premiere screenings at the AFM on November 3rd & 5th. All international rights are currently available.
President of ContentFilm International, Jamie Carmichael says: “Dalton Trumbo’s story has lessons for us all about the Freedom of Speech issue; the power of this film is how relevant it is – and the joy of it, is that it does so in such an engaging and funny way”.
The producers said: “There have been several highlights in making this project, from the discovery of the letters, through getting to work with such an extraordinary cast and we think Content is the perfect partner with whom to present this film to the international audience.”
