In today’s film news roundup, Ang Lee starts shooting Will Smith in “Gemini Man,” “I Think We’re Alone Now” gets U.S. distribution and Liz Biber leaves Global Road.
PRODUCTION STARTS
Ang Lee has begun shooting on the long-delayed thriller “Gemini” Man, starring Will Smith as an elite assassin targeted and pursued by a mysterious young operative who seemingly can predict his every move.
Producers are Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison. Also starring are Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong. Paramount will open “Gemini Man” on Oct. 4, 2019. Smith began posting images Tuesday on his Instagram account.
Lee became attached to the project in 2016. His most recent film was “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” for which he used an unprecedented shooting and projection frame rate of 120 frames per second — five times faster than the normal rate of 24 frames per second. He won Academy Awards for directing “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi,” and was nominated for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
“Gemini Man” was first set up at Disney in 1997 as a pitch by Darren Lemke, with Tony Scott directing.
SUNDANCE SALE
Momentum Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “I Think We’re Alone Now,” which won a Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival last month.
Peter Dinklage stars as a man who finds himself alone after the human race is wiped out until he discovers another person, played by Elle Fanning. Reed Morano directed from Mike Makowsky’s Black List script.
Producers are Fred Berger and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones of Automatik, Fernando Loureiro & Roberto Vasconcellos of Exhibit, Dinklage through his Estuary Films, and Makowsky. The news was first reported by Deadline.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTS
Liz Biber has departed her post as the head of publicity at Global Road Entertainment, the successor company to Open Road Films and IM Global.
She had been in charge of publicity at Open Road since 2011, when it was founded by AMC and Regal. Tang Media Partners bought Open Road last year.
Biber headed publicity efforts for “Spotlight” when it won the Best Picture Academy Award in 2016. She previously held posts at Dimension Films, The Weinstein Company and Columbia Pictures.
Principal Communications is handling PR for Global Road.
