10 February, 2008
The film will star Ben Foster (“3:10 to Yuma”, “X-Men” franchise) as ‘Derek Montgomery’, a young army officer who is forced to work with a partner he can’t stand, in the least desirable job in the military. When Derek falls in love with Olivia, a soldier’s widow, life becomes even more complicated. Mark Gordon (“Saving Private Ryan”, “The Day After Tomorrow”) and Lawrence Inglee will produce for the Mark Gordon Company, along with Zach Miller and Ben Goldhirsh of Reason Pictures.
Sherezade Film Development (“The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”, “Smart People”) will provide financing for the film. ContentFilm International (“Thank You for Smoking”, “Black Book”, “Hamlet 2”) will handle foreign sales starting today at the Berlin International Film Festival. Shaun Redick and Nate Bolotin of The Collective teamed with The Mark Gordon Company to help package the movie and negotiate the financing, and will serve as Executive Producers, as well as represent the North American distribution rights. Ann Ruark (“Be Kind Rewind, “Babel”, “Garden State”), is on board to line produce. Co-writing credit goes to Alessandro Camon (debut).
Mark Gordon commented, “’The Messenger’ is an uplifting story that transcends borders by combining comedy and drama to convey a universal message of hope.”
Ben Foster is represented by Endeavor and Ken Jacobson Management Group. Oren Moverman is represented by WMA and New York Office.
About The Mark Gordon Company
MARK GORDON has over 60 motion pictures and television programs to his credit. Gordon’s most recent motion picture credits include 10,000 B.C., directed by Roland Emmerich. The film is slated for worldwide release by Warner Bros. on March 7, 2008. Among Gordon’s other motion picture credits are such international blockbusters as THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, THE PATRIOT, SPEED and the multi award-winning SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. In the Fall 2007 season, Gordon had five series on the air including Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice for ABC, Criminal Minds for CBS, Army Wives on Lifetime and Reaper for the CW. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and is the recipient of multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Producers Guild of America awards.
About The Collective
The Collective is a Management and Production Company based in Beverly Hills, CA. Founded in 2005; the company’s owners include former founders or Senior Executive from Hollywood’s most successful management and production companies. The founder of The Firm (Michael Green), talent head of 3 Arts Entertainment (Jeff Golenberg), and Popart Entertainment founder (Sam Maydew). Recently, The Collective packaged and negotiated financing for POWDER BLUE starring Forest Whitaker, Jessica Biel and Ray Liotta. Next up from The Collective is DAYDREAM NATION starring Hayden Panetierre, and THE PUBLIC from writer/director Emilio Estevez. Currently, The Collective represents a diverse array of talent, writers, directors, and media companies, including such notable names as: John Leguizamo, Emile Hirsch, Emilio Estevez, Dennis Hopper, and Martin Lawrence.
About Sherezade Film Development
Sherezade Filmdevelopment Ltd. is a company based out of Bahrain and registered in the British Virgin Islands which is specialized in financing, production and distribution of independent US feature films with a focus on high quality output and controlled budgets up to US$15M. In 2007 Sherezade produced 8 feature films with a total budget of over US$65M, and currently the company has several new films in pre-production. Sherezade plans to co-finance and produce 5-10 additional feature films per year. The company was founded in September 2005.
About ContentFilm International
ContentFilm International is a dynamic film sales and finance company, specializing in high quality, commercial feature films. The company is based in central London and in Los Angeles. Launched in September 2002 by President Jamie Carmichael, ContentFilm International is the film sales arm of ContentFilm plc.
About Reason Pictures
Reason Pictures is a feature film development and production company based in Los Angeles, CA. Reason was founded in 2003 by Benjamin Goldhirsh and is currently run by Zach Miller. Recent productions include THE POWER OF THE GAME – a global documentary directed by Michael Apted that follows the 2006 World Cup; and SON OF RAMBOW, written and directed by Garth Jennings, which was the highest selling film at Sundance 2007 and will be released worldwide by Paramount Vantage on May 2, 2008. Reason has several projects in development, including MARCHING POWDER, which will star Don Cheadle, ABOUT THE AUTHOR, written and to be directed by Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe and LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE!, which will be directed by Nicole Kassell.
