Lionsgate, Paul Haggis reunite on The Next Three Days
Lionsgate has set Paul Haggis to direct the thriller The Next Three Days after acquiring remake rights to the 2008 French release Pour Elle from Wild Bunch and Fidelite Films.
Haggis, reuniting with the studio for the first time since he wrote and directed the 2006 Oscar winner Crash, will adapt the screenplay and produce with his Highway 61 Films partner Michael Nozik alongside Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films.
The Next Three Days centres on an ordinary couple whose love is tested to the limit in a desperate situation. Fidelite's Missonnier and Delbosc produced the French original with Eric Jehelmann, which starred Diane Kruger and Vincent Lindon. Fred Cavaye earned a Cesar nomination this year for best first film.
Principal photography is expected to get underway in August with president of motion picture production Alli Shearmur and vice president of motion picture production Wolfgang Hammer overseeing for the studio.
Hammer brokered the deal for Lionsgate alongside executive vice president of business and legal affairs Robert Melnik and executive vice president of business and legal affairs, acquisitions and co-productions Wendy Jaffe.
Attorney Peter Dekom and Steven Brookman of CAA negotiated on behalf of Highway 61 and Agnes Mentre and Peter Grant of Grubman Indursky & Shire represented Fidelite Films. Highway 61's new head of development Eugenie Grandval brought the project to the company.
Haggis and Highway 61 are represented by Risa Gertner and Byrdie Lifson at CAA and by Larry Becsey at IPG.
Lionsgate, Haggis Reunite for The Next Three Days
Source:LionsgateJune 2, 2009
Lionsgate announced today that it will re-team with filmmaker Paul Haggis for his latest feature, the thriller The Next Three Days, an adaptation of the French film Pour Elle. Lionsgate has acquired remake rights from Wild Bunch and Fidelite Films.
In the film, an ordinary couple find themselves in an unthinkable situation and have to make desperate choices that will test the limits of love and alter their lives forever.
The Next Three Days will mark the first collaboration between the studio and Haggis since Crash, the Lionsgate release for which Haggis received the 2005 Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and a nomination for Best Director.
Haggis will write and direct. Haggis and Michael Nozik will produce through their production entity Highway 61 Films, alongside producers Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films. The announcement was made by Joe Drake, Lionsgate President, Motion Picture Group, and Co-Chief Operating Officer.
Principal photography on The Next Three Days is expected to begin in August. Lionsgate President of Motion Picture Production Alli Shearmur and Lionsgate Vice President of Motion Picture Production Wolfgang Hammer will oversee the production for the studio.
Said Shearmur, "We are delighted to welcome the brilliant Paul Haggis back to Lionsgate. As both a writer and director, Paul brings keen insight into the workings of the human animal, and it's going to be a real treat to see what he does with an unpredictable thriller like 'The Next Three Days.'"
Commented Haggis, "I'm thrilled to be working with Lionsgate again; they did such a great job distributing 'Crash.' I'm looking forward to exploring the depths of faith and the limits of love."
Russell Crowe to star in 'Three Days'
Paul Haggis to direct Lionsgate film
Russell Crowe will star in "The Next Three Days," the adaptation of the 2008 French film "Pour Elle" that reunites Lionsgate with its "Crash" director Paul Haggis.
Crowe
Haggis
Crowe will play a teacher whose wife is arrested and convicted of a murder she says she did not commit. He comes up with a desperate plan to free her.
Haggis, who wrote the script, will begin production in late September in Pittsburgh.
Haggis told Daily Variety that the drama needed an actor who can thrive as an Everyman who rises when faced with an extraordinary circumstance, and Crowe was his top choice. "We've seen him as the gladiator, but he has embodied the Everyman in so many pictures," Haggis said.
Haggis said the film explores deeper themes of faith and belief.
Said Haggis: "The deeper theme here is, would you save the woman you loved if you knew that by doing so, you would turn into a man that woman could no longer love?"
Haggis is producing with Michael Nozik through their Highway 61 Films, along with Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films.
Crowe is shooting "Robin Hood," the Ridley Scott-directed drama for Universal and Imagine.
Crowe is repped by WME.
Elizabeth Banks is in final negotiations to star in "The Next Three Days" for writer-director Paul Haggis at Lionsgate.
Banks will play the lead role of Laura, a woman who is imprisoned for a murder she claims she didn't commit, as her husband, the recently cast Russell Crowe, desperately tries to vindicate her.
The suspense drama is a remake of the 2008 French thriller "Pour Elle," which was written and directed by Fred Cavaye.
Haggis, his Highway 61 Films partner Michael Nozik and Fidelite's Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc are producing. Lionsgate execs Alli Shearmur and Wolfgang Hammer are overseeing for the studio.
Filming is scheduled to begin next month.
Banks, who is repped by UTA and Untitled Entertainment, most recently starred in "Zach and Miri Make a Porno," "The Uninvited" and "W." She is currently shooting the comedy "The Details" opposite Tobey Maguire.
Banks is attached to star in and produce, through her Brownstone Prods., the comedy "Forever 21," which is in development at DreamWorks.
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Perver
I so like the choice of Brian Dennehy playing
Russell's dad. He's an exceptional actor. 
That Ty Simpkins is a really cute kid.
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