A24 has landed North American distribution rights to “Swiss Army Man,” starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano, Variety has learned.
Several distributors had bid on and were circling the project. A24, which landed the film in the low seven-figure range, will give “Swiss Army Man” a robust theatrical release over the summer.
The film premiered at Sundance last Friday, where it became one of the festival’s most talked-about titles. The story about a man (Dano) who comes across a corpse (Radcliffe) that comes to life divided audiences. But it also received standing ovations in later screenings and good reviews from critics who liked the offbeat directorial debut from the music video duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
“Imagine ‘Cast Away’ meets ‘Weekend at Bernie’s,’ as directed by Michel Gondry,” wrote Variety chief international critic Peter Debruge. “The result represents not just independent cinema, but an emerging strand of what might be called ‘indifferent cinema’ — wildly iconoclastic personal visions whose creators don’t seem especially concerned about the ultimate commercial fate of their movies, so long as they ultimately reach those kindred spirits who groove to the same strange worldview.”
The film was produced by Jonathan Wang, Lawrence Inglee, Miranda Bailey, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon and Lauren Mann. Executive producers are Gideon Tadmor, William Olsson and Jim Kaufman.
WME, ICM Partners, and UTA brokered the deal. The directors are represented by Mosaic LA.
See Radcliffe discuss the film at Variety Studio at Sundance below:
