March 28, 2012
Strand Releasing has acquired all US rights to Marshall Lewy's 'California Solo'
The film had its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
'California Solo' stars Robert Carlyle as a former Britpop rocker-turned-farm worker who gets caught driving drunk, leading to possible deportation after living in Los Angeles for 20 years. Carlyle is best known for his memorable roles in 'Trainspotting', 'The Full Monty', and '28 Weeks Later', and currently plays Rumpelstiltskin on the hit ABC series 'Once Upon A Time'.
The film was written and directed by Lewy, and also stars Alexia Rasmussen, Kathleen Wilhoite, A Martinez, Michael Des Barres, and Danny Masterson.
The deal for the film was negotiated by Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing and Ryan Kampe of Visit Films. Strand plans for a fall theatrical release.
"We're thrilled to acquire this uplifting and inspirational story, and it's great to see Carlyle in a versatile leading role," said Gerrans.
"This deal represents a continuation of our positive collaboration with Strand and we are happy that they felt as strongly about 'California Solo' as we did at Visit." Kampe stated.
Lewy previously wrote and directed 'Blue State' starring Anna Paquin. He is currently adapting the New York Times best-seller 'Born to Run' for Peter Sarsgaard to direct, and is prepping his next directorial effort 'Exodus', produced by Michael Roiff, Fred Berger, and Ross Katz.
'Califiornia Solo' was produced by Mynette Louie who previously produced the award-winning 'Children of Invention' and the forthcoming 'Stones in the Sun',
premiering at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
"I'm honored that our film has found a home with Strand, and I'm excited to work with a distributor that has such a long history of creative integrity," says Lewy. "They've released some of my favorite films of all time."
Louie added, "We're excited that 'California Solo' will be released by Strand, whose impeccable taste and uncompromising vision over the last two decades have made it one of the most groundbreaking distributors of contemporary cinema."
'California Solo' is co-produced by Ross Girard who is currently an in-house producer for Michel Gondry's Partizan, and is executive produced by Carlyle, Joan Huang of Cherry Sky Films, and Rick Rosenthal and Nick Morton of Whitewater Films.
Strand Releasing is based in Culver City and run by Jon Gerrans and Marcus Hu. This year's slate includes Athina Tsangari's 'Attenberg', Braden King's 'Here', Joachim Trier's 'Oslo August 31st', and Andre Techine's 'Unforgivable'.
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