STX & CAA Board Sales On Tom Hanks Comedy ‘A Man Called Otto’ Ahead Of Pennsylvania Shoot; Supporting Cast Revealed For EFM Hot Pic

EXCLUSIVE: Tom Hanks comedy A Man Called Otto is full-steam ahead with filming set to begin next month on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we can reveal.

STX International has boarded international sales rights to the hot project ahead of the virtual EFM and CAA Media Finance will rep domestic alongside Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler Feldman & Clark. We hear interest is already growing among potential suitors for the project, which will be among the bigger budgeted movies on sale during the market.

Joining Oscar winner Hanks in the comedy adaptation of the Scandinavian hit A Man Called Ove are Mariana Treviño (Overboard), Rachel Keller (Legion) and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (6 Underground).

As we revealed earlier this month, Marc Forster will direct the SF Studios movie, which is adapted from the Fredrik Backman novel and original Oscar-nominated Swedish movie of 2017 written and directed by Hannes Holm. The titular character has been renamed to reflect the U.S. setting.

The film will follow Otto (Hanks), a grumpy isolated widower with staunch principles, strict routines and a short fuse, who gives everyone in his neighborhood a hard time as he watches over it like a hawk. Just as it seems like he’s finally given up on life, an unlikely and reluctant friendship develops with his new neighbors. Little by little, Otto undergoes a subtle transformation…but is he really capable of change?

The new script comes from two-time Oscar nominee David Magee (Life of Pi) who will also executive produce. A Man Called Otto sees the pair reuniting for the first time following their successful collaboration on the acclaimed Finding Neverland.

Fredrik Wikström Nicastro (A Man Called Ove) of SF Studios is producing the film with Rita Wilson (Mamma Mia!), and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. Marc Forster and Renée Wolfe will serve as executive producers via their production company 2DUX2 (World War Z). SF Studios is financing the project.

Hanks is repped by CAA. Forster is repped by WME and Linda Lichter of Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler Feldman & Clark. David Magee is repped by Jeff Springer of Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler Feldman & Clark.