Director Roland Joffé Inks With Gersh

EXCLUSIVE: Gersh has signed award-winning director Roland Joffé, who recently co-wrote and directed the South African drama, The Forgiven, starring Forest Whitaker and Eric Bana.

Based on the Michael Ashton play The Archbishop and The Antichrist, the story follows Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s (Whitaker) work as President of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa, and his struggle with a brutal murderer Piet Blomfeld (Bana) over concession and redemption. Saban Entertainment is releasing the pic in limited theaters on March 9.

Joffé is perhaps best known for directing the Oscar-winning films The Killing Fields with Sam Waterston, John Malkovich, and Dr. Hang S. Ngor, who picked up the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and The Mission starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons. Joffé earned a Best Director nom for both films.

Other directing credits include The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall, Fatman and Little Boy starring Paul Newman, John Cusack, and Laura Dern, as well as the CMT TV series Sun Records and the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising.

Joffé, also repped by Zero Gravity Management, is in development on Rules For Living Underground, a film written by Ian Wallace and George Tunis. Matthew Rhodes is exec producing the project, while Arsalan Asli and Eric Goldrich of Manifest Pictures are producing.