Sigourney Weaver-Starrer ‘My Salinger Year’ Pre-Sells to Major Territories for Memento (EXCLUSIVE)
Memento Films Intl. has inked a raft of strong pre-sales on Philippe Falardeau’s “My Salinger Year,” the big-screen adaptation of Joanna Rakoff’s international bestseller that will star Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”).
Set to start shooting May 23, “My Salinger Year” has pre-sold to Spain (A Contracorriente), Latin America (Cinepolis), the U.K. (Thunderbird), Benelux (Paradiso Filmed Entertainment), Japan (CCC), Portugal (Outsider), Greece and Cyprus (Spentzos), Bulgaria (BTV Media Group), the former Yugoslavia (Dexin), Hungary (Hungaricom), China (Huanxi Media), South Korea (Jin Jin Pictures), Taiwan (Catchplay), the Middle East (Falcon Film) and global airlines (Entertainment in Motion).
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Falardeau, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated film “Monsieur Lazhar,” wrote the big-screen adaptation of the memoir and will direct the film. “My Salinger Year” takes place in New York in the 1990s and follows Joanna (Qualley), who leaves graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and gets hired as an assistant to Margaret (Weaver), the stoic and old-fashioned literary agent of J. D. Salinger.
Fluctuating between poverty and glamour, Qualley spends her days in a plush office and her nights in a sink-less Brooklyn apartment with her socialist boyfriend. Joanna’s main task is processing Salinger’s voluminous fan mail, but as she reads letters from around the world, she impulsively begins personalizing the responses, discovering her own voice in the process. Douglas Booth, Seana Kerslake, Colm Feore and Theodore Pellerin have joined the cast.
The film is being produced by Luc Déry and Kim McCraw at micro_scope, the Canadian outfit behind Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” and “Enemy,” as well as Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar.” Ruth Coady and Susan Mullen of Parallel Films in Ireland are co-producing.
The below-the-line team includes Sara Mishara (“Felix & Meira”), costume designer Patricia McNeil (“Small Crimes”) and production designer Elise de Blois (“Barney’s Version”).
Falardeau, Weaver Qualley and Booth are all repped by UTA; and Rakoff is represented by WME. UTA Independent Film Group represents U.S. rights with Memento Films Intl.
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