EXCLUSIVE: Yen Tan, whose feature 1985 debuted at SXSW in 2018, has signed on to helm Beauty, the story of Julia Pastrana, a woman who suffered from the rare genetic condition hypertrichosis. In the 1800s, showman Theodore Lent made her a worldwide attraction.
The pic will be produced by Mark Amin for Sobini Films and David Permut for Permut Presentations. Tyler Boehm and Cami Winikoff will executive produce for Sobini Films, with Yen Tan and Hutch, who teamed on 1985, penning the screenplay. Clair Noto, Meg Richman and Brendan Fitzgerald are also writers on the project.
Amin most recently produced and directed the Civil War drama Emperor, and has previous credits as a producer including JT Leroy, Miles Ahead, and Mary Shelley. Permut was Oscar nominated for Hacksaw Ridge and has upcoming credits including The Legend Of Cocaine Island to star Will Ferrell at Netflix, and the Barry Levinson-directed Sheela starring Priyanka Chopra at Amazon.
“Yen Tan is an extraordinary filmmaker with a reputation for telling unique stories with an independent voice, and we couldn’t be happier to be producing his next film,” said Amin.
“This is a heartbreaking gothic love story, and we are excited to partner with one of the next generation of great filmmakers, Yen Tan in bringing this bold and daring story to the screen” said Permut.
Yen Tan is repped by Allard Cantor and Jarrod Murray at Epicenter and Christina Chou, Pete Stein and Jiah Shin at CAA.
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