Neon Nabs US Rights to Brandon Cronenberg’s Sundance Sci-Fi ‘Possessor’
Neon has continued its recent hot streak by acquiring the U.S. rights to another buzzy title, Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller “Possessor” out of the Sundance Film Festival, Neon announced Friday.
The film starring Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott made its world premiere at Sundance. Neon will announce release plans for the film at a later date.
“Possessor” stars Riseborough as a world-class assassin named Tasya Vos who works for a secretive organization that hires her to use brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies and then commit assassinations for high-paying clients. But things start to get dangerous when she inhabits the mind of her latest unsuspecting host, played by Abbott. The film also stars Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
“Neon is a hugely exciting distributor, and I’ve been eager to work with them for a while now. I’m thrilled they are taking on ‘Possessor’ in collaboration with Well Go USA, who made production of the film possible,” Cronenberg said in a statement.
Cronenberg is the son of David Cronenberg, and “Possessor” marks his sophomore feature after debuting his first film, “Antiviral,” at the Cannes Film Festival. That movie won the prize for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the TIFF in 2012.
“Possessor” is a Canadian/U.K. co-production and is produced by Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst and Fraser Ash for Rhombus Media and Andy Starke for Rook Films. The film’s executive producers are: Arclight Films’ Gary Hamilton, Ryan Hamilton and Ying Ye; Steven Squillante and David U. Lee of Leeding Media; Noah Segal and Adrian Love of Elevation Pictures; Simon Williams, Daniel Negret, and Vaishali Mistry of Ingenious Media; Dave Bishop; Tony Roman; and Doris Pfardrescher from Well Go USA Entertainment.
“Possessor” is an Ingenious Media presentation, produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates, in association with Arclight Films and Particular Crowd. Elevation Pictures will release the film in Canada.
Jeff Deutchman negotiated the deal for Neon with Doris Pfardrescher at Well Go USA and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers. Arclight Films is handling worldwide rights and co-represented the U.S. rights. “Possessor” will be released by NEON, and Well Go USA will handle the home entertainment release.
Just yesterday, Neon announced it had acquired a Nicolas Cage revenge thriller called “Pig,” and before that the Tom Quinn-led distributor acquired Amy Seimetz’s “She Dies Tomorrow,” which was meant to premiere at SXSW. Also out of Sundance Neon had acquired “Palm Springs” in partnership with Hulu, the Elisabeth Moss drama “Shirley” and the documentary “Spaceship Earth.”
Read original story Neon Nabs US Rights to Brandon Cronenberg’s Sundance Sci-Fi ‘Possessor’ At TheWrap
