Toronto — Foundation Features has boarded first-time helmer-scribe Ana Valine’s “Sitting on the Edge of Marlene,” starring “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” star Paloma Kwiatkowski.
Pic is produced by Amber Ripley and exec-produced by Rob Merilees of Vancouver-based Foundation. Denys Arcand (“The Barbarian Invasions”) also serves as exec producer.
Arcand was involved during script development, mentoring Valine as she was writing the first draft, based on author Billie Livingston’s young adult novella.
Pic concerns Sammie (Kwiatkowski), a teen who is drawn into the family con business to help her addict mom (Suzanne Clement). Callum Keith Rennie (“The Killing”) plays her mom’s con partner and wannabe boyfriend.
“We knew we would be casting an unknown up-and-comer for the character of Sammie,” Ripley told Variety. “We were aware of Paloma’s amazing talent and lucky to have her in one of our first casting sessions.”
Lensing on the low-budget pic has begun in Maple Ridge and Langley, British Columbia.
Entertainment One has Canadian rights and is handling all foreign sales.
B.C.-based Valine is a Canadian Film Center grad and 2011 winner of the Women in the Director’s Chair Workshop’s $120,000 in-kind prize of production and post services from leading Canadian companies.
Kwiatkowski is repped by manager Darren Goldberg of Global Creative and agent Carrie Wheeler. Clement is repped by Perry Zimel of Oscars Abrams Zimel & Associates, and Rennie is repped by manager Elizabeth Hodgson and Paul Santana of APA.
