‘Salt’ & ‘The Bee Keeper’ Scribe Kurt Wimmer To Direct & Write ‘Solara’ For Oakhurst & Motus

EXCLUSIVE: In the wake of his seven-figure spec sale of The Bee Keeper to Miramax, which has Jason Statham attached to star, Kurt Wimmer will next direct his original script Solara for Oakhurst Entertainment and The Motus Studios.

The project is billed as a throwback to the raw and down-and-dirty tone and ethos of such 1970s movies as the Charles Bronson, Elmore Leonard scripted Mr Majestyk and the John Flynn-directed, Paul Schrader co-scripted Rolling Thunder starring Tommy Lee Jones and William Devane.

The project will be produced and financed by Jai Khanna and Marina Grasic of Oakhurst Entertainment along with Emanuele Moretti of The Motus Studios. Wimmer will also produce. Verve Ventures arranged the financing and will co-represent domestic rights with Motus handling international.

“Astonishingly powerful and poignant, Wimmer’s script has a furious sense of purpose. It was a no-brainer for us to dive in,” Khanna tells Deadline.

Wimmer recently directed and wrote the remake of Children of the Corn, shot entirely during the Covid lockdown in Australia, and wrote Spell for Paramount Pictures, which was released at the end of October last year. He also recently sold his original pilot The Cup Bearer to Apple. Wimmer’s previous blockbuster credits include the remake of the cult classic Point Break ($133.7M), the Colin Farrell re-do of Total Recall ($198.5M), Salt ($293.5M WW), Law Abiding Citizen ($128M WW) and the 1999 reboot of The Thomas Crown Affair ($124.3M WW). 

Oakhurst is in production on the Catherine Hardwicke directed Prisoner’s Daughter starring Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox, Four Good Days starring Glenn Close and Mila Kunis which recently dropped on Hulu, and the Aubrey Plaza feature Black Bear which landed a streaming deal at Epix.

Rome based-The Motus Studios, launched last year and is spearheaded by veteran Emanuele Moretti. Moretti previously served as Head of Acquisitions at Phoenix Worldwide before launching this new sales and distribution outfit. Moretti’s credits include 3 Days With Dad starring Oscar winner J.K. Simmons, the documentary Piazza Vittorio with Willem Dafoe and the upcoming Lucca Mortis with Morgan Freeman.

Wimmer is repped by Verve and attorney Barry Littman.