NEW YORK — Jim Sonzero is about to leapfrog through the ranks of novice filmmakers.
A top commercials director who most recently helmed a Verizon wireless TV campaign, Sonzero has just inked a three-pic deal with Dimension, largely on the strength of his short film “War of the Angels,” about a Nazi soldier who has a conflict of conscience as he conducts his first execution.
The first film under the Dimension pact is “Deader,” a thriller penned by Neil Marshall Stevens about a female journalist investigating a mysterious suicide cult in Manhattan’s East Village. Stevens is now writing “13 Ghosts” for Silver Pictures and “Lost Girls” for Universal.
Fright might
” ‘Deader’ is a thriller that explores the primal fear that lives in all of us –the fear of death,” said Sonzero. “It’s about our dance with death and the riddle of life.”
Pre-production begins this fall; Stan Winston and David Greathouse of Stan Winston Prods. are attached to produce.
Overseeing the project at Dimension are senior production and development veep Andrew Rona and production and development director Steve Squillante.
Miramax was repped by senior veep of business and legal affairs Brian Burkin. Sonzero was repped by UTA and manager Doug Chapan.