Cannes Briefs: Mundial Boards ‘Libertador’; Hyde Park Tells ‘Legends Of Oz’; ‘Scribbler’ Has Imagination; + ‘Tom Jones’; XYZ Films; Maggie Smith; James Franco & More

Refresh For Latest…

Mundial Selling Simón Bolivar Epic ‘Libertador’
IM Global and Canana joint venture, Mundial, has boarded international sales for Libertador starring Carlos‘ Edgar Ramirez and Danny Huston. The Alberto Arvelo-directed film is scripted by Timothy Sexton and tells the life story of Simón Bolívar who was instrumental in Latin America’s struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire. María Valverde, Imanol Arias and Gary Lewis also star. The film is produced by Winfried Hammacher, Ana Loehnert and Arvelo, and co-produced by Jose Luis Escolar. Ramírez and Maria A. Guerrero Rocca are exec producers. Libertador is South America’s largest independent production and was shot in 13 different locations between South America and Europe.

Hyde Park Boards ‘Legends Of Oz’ With Michele, Belushi, Aykroyd
Hyde Park International has added the 3D animated pic Legends Of Oz: Dorothy’s Return to its lineup. Glee’s Lea Michele heads the voice cast, which also includes Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and Kelsey Grammer. Will Finn and Daniel St. Pierre co-directed from a script by Adam Balsam and Randi Barnes based on books by L. Frank Baum’s great-grandson Roger S. Baum. The musical adventure picks up as Dorothy returns to Oz, and to its new villain. Pic is produced by Bonne Radford alongside Ryan Carroll and Roland Carroll of Summertime Entertainment. Clarius Entertainment releases Stateside on May 2, 2014.

Graphic Novel Adaptation ‘The Scribbler’ Goes To Imagination
Genre-bending thriller The Scribbler is adapted from Dan Schaffer’s British graphic novel. Imagination Worldwide is handling sales on the story of a troubled young woman (Arrow‘s Katie Cassidy) who submits to the experimental “Siamese Burn” machine to get rid of her multiple personalities only to be haunted by the thought that her last unwanted personality could be her true identity. Garret Dillahunt, Michelle Trachtenberg, Eliza Dushku, Gina Gershon, Michael Imperioli, Billy Campbell, Kunal Nayyar and Sasha Grey also star in the pic directed by John Suits. New Artists Alliance founder Gabe Cowan produced with Ken F. Levin of Nightsky Productions. Caliber Media’s Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller exec produced with NAA’s Kerry Johnson.

CrossDay Adapting ‘Tom Jones’
Starter For 10 director Tom Vaughn has been set to helm CrossDay Productions’ Tom Jones. The bawdy comedy will be based on Henry Fielding’s classic novel The History Of Tom Jones, A Foundling. Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet scripted the adaptation which is currently casting. Janette Day is producing.

Gabriel To Run Sales At XYZ
The Raid producer XYZ Films has named Sarah Gabriel as director of sales heading into the Cannes Market. The company’s slate includes Fortnight title On The Job, a Tagalog-language action-thriller from Erik Matti. Gabriel was previously at Celluloid Nightmares and before that was international sales coordinator at Lionsgate.

Maggie Smith Is ‘My Old Lady’
Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Jane Birkin and Dominique Pinon are to topline the feature adaptation of Israel Horovitz’ stage play My Old Lady. Playwright and screenwriter Horovitz is making his film directing debut with the Paris-set comedy that starts principal photography September 9. Kline plays a down-and-out New Yorker who travels to Paris to liquidate a huge apartment he’s inherited. But when he gets there, he learns he can’t take possession of the apartment until the old woman who’s living in it dies. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales and Cinetic Media is repping North America. Rachael Horovitz (Moneyball, Grey Gardens) is producing with Raphael Benoliel, Nitsa Benchetrit and David Barrot.

‘Every Thing Will Be Fine’ For James Franco
James Franco has signed to star in Wim Wenders’ Every Thing Will Be Fine, a 3D family drama set to start shooting in August. Franco will play Tomas, a writer who accidentally causes the death of a child. The story examines the twelve years following the accident and its impact on Tomas, and the child’s mother. Wenders calls the movie “A story of guilt and forgiveness, and of accepting things you cannot change anymore. We wrote it with 3D in mind, and I’m convinced that the medium lends itself really well to an intimate story.” Gian-Piero Ringel is producing through his and Wenders’ Neue Road Movies. HanWay Films is handling international sales. Franco will incidentally be in Cannes with As I Lay Dying, a film he directed that’s running in Un Certain Regard. He’s repped by Kami Putnam-Heist at CAA and Miles D Levy at James/Levy Management.

Content Lights Up ‘Dark Summer’
Modern ghost story Dark Summer will be proffered to international buyers in Cannes courtesy of Content Film which has overseas and which will share North American duties with Preferred Content’s Kevin Iwashina. The film, from director Paul Solet and written by K-Town creator Mike Le, is produced by Preferred Film & TV’s Ross M. Dinerstein and executive produced by Content’s Jamie Carmichael. The supernatural horror pic centers on a 17-year-old who’s under house arrest for the summer – with a terrifying presence. Solet is repped by Paradigm and Principato Young and Le is represented by APA and manager Jonathan Hung.

Beta To Promo Skarsgard, Kingsley Adventure
Beta Cinema has added Holger Haase’s father-son comedy Quality Time and Vivian Naefe’s drama The Taste Of Apple Seeds to its Cannes Market roster. It will also debut new promos of The Physician starring Stellan Skarsgard, Ben Kingsley and Tom Payne; The Devil’s Violinist, Bernard Rose’s biopic about Nicolo Paganini; and sibling war drama Le Grand Cahier.