In a first — and key — territory sale, Mister Smith Entertainment has licensed Terrence Malick’s upcoming “Radegund,” a true story set during World War II, to UGC for France.
The deal was closed at the European Film Market, which runs concurrently with the Berlin Film Festival, by MSE’s David Garrett and UGC’s Thierry Decourcelle, who said Malick’s screenplay is “one of the strongest scripts we have read in recent years.”
Variety has had access to an exclusive first look photo to the film, for which buyer interest appears large. Marking Malick’s return to World War II two decades after “The Thin Red Line,” the English-language “Radegund” tells the true story of Franz Jaegerstaetter (played by August Diehl), an Austrian farmer who, after Germany annexed Austria in 1938, refused to fight for the Third Reich. Written by Malick, the story is told through a series of real wartime letters between Jaegerstaetter and his wife.
“This is Malick returning to the top of his game in the telling of an extraordinary true story which has great resonance in today’s moral climate,” Garrett said.
“Radegund” is currently in post-production and set for a 2017 release.
