SUBMITTED BY Kit-Kat
August 4, 2006 — Liv Tyler has signed to star in Rogue Pictures' Strangers, for writer/director Bryan Bertino. Production will begin this fall on the movie, which is scheduled for a nationwide release in October 2007. Rogue co-presidents Andrew Karpen and Andrew Rona made the announcement today.
The Mandate Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment production will be produced by those companies' respective principals Nathan Kahane and Roy Lee & Doug Davison. Mandate's Joe Drake and Kelli Konop and Vertigo's Sonny Malhi will executive-produce the film.
Strangers is a suspense thriller revolving around a couple in a remote suburban house who are targeted by three dangerous masked strangers. The resulting clashes force the couple to go well beyond what they thought themselves capable of in order to survive.
is a suspense thriller revolving around a couple in a remote suburban house who are targeted by three dangerous masked strangers. The resulting clashes force the couple to go well beyond what they thought themselves capable of in order to survive.
Mr. Bertino will be making his feature directorial debut on Strangers from his own original screenplay. Ms. Tyler will play the female half of the couple; the male role is out to actors, as are the roles of the home invaders.
Ms. Tyler is well-known to moviegoers worldwide for playing the lead female role of Arwen in the blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She recently wrapped shooting Mike Binder's new film, in which she stars with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle.
Mr. Karpen and Mr. Rona said, "Liv enjoys a real rapport with audiences worldwide. This is the kind of picture she hasn't done before, and we're excited that she's going to be the actor anchoring Strangers under Bryan's direction."
Vertigo is currently in post-production on Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge 2, which is being produced with Ghost House Pictures, Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert's joint venture with Messrs. Drake and Kahane. Columbia Pictures will release the film.
Mandate Pictures' slate also includes Stranger than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster and written by Zach Helm, which will be released by Columbia Pictures. The film stars Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah, and two-time Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Additionally, Mandate is in post-production with Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, written and directed by Mr. Helm and starring Mr. Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman. The company has in development Juno, written by Diablo Cody; and Passengers, to be directed by Rodrigo Garcma from a screenplay by Ronnie Christensen.
Vertigo Entertainment's production slate also includes Martin Scorsese's The Departed, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson, for release by Warner Bros.; and the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers entitled The Visiting, starring Nicole Kidman and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, for release by Warner Bros. In addition, Vertigo is in pre-production on Yann Samuell's Sassy Girl, to star Elisha Cuthbert, with Gold Circle Films; and David Moreau and Xavier Palud's The Eye, starring Jessica Alba, for release by Lionsgate Films.
Rogue Pictures (www.roguepictures.com) is devoted to producing and distributing high-quality suspense, action, thriller, comedy, and urban entertainment with mainstream appeal and franchise potential.
In addition to Strangers, upcoming Rogue Pictures releases include Jet Li's Fearless, starring Jet Li and directed by Ronny Yu; The Return, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar for director Asif Kapadia; Robert Ben Garant's Balls of Fury, starring Dan Fogler, George Lopez, Maggie Q, and Christopher Walken; Dave Meyers' remake of The Hitcher, produced by Michael Bay and starring Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, and Zachary Knighton; and Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz, the new comedy from the Shaun of the Dead team.
All Rogue movies are handled domestically through Focus Features' existing marketing and distribution operations.
Focus Features and Rogue Pictures are part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.
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