Working Title, Wahlberg to remake 'Point Blank'
Fred Cavaye's French thriller will also get Korean redo
By ELSA KESLASSY
Working Title is teaming with Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson's Leverage banner to remake Fred Cavaye's hit French action thriller "Point Blank."
Produced by LGM and Gaumont, the original $14 million "Point Blank," which starred Gilles Lellouche ("The Players"), Roschdy Zem ("Just Like A Woman"), Gerard Lanvin ("A Gang Story") and Elena Anaya ("The Skin I Live In"), delivered a race-against-time story about a male nurse who needs to orchestrate the escape of a murderer in order to keep his kidnapped wife alive.
The Paris-set pic was a B.O. sleeper hit in Gaul and traveled worldwide, including in the U.S. where it was released by Magnolia. It's not related to John Boorman's 1967 pic.
Cavaye's feature debut "Anything for Her" (Pour Elle) also spawned a U.S. remake: Paul Haggis' "The Next Three Days" starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.
Deal was negotiated by Cecile Gaget, Gaumont International topper; Sheeraz Shah and Emily MacKintosh, co-toppers of business affairs at Working Title; and WME on behalf of Leverage, the indie powerhouse behind "Boardwalk Empire" and "Entourage."
"Between Working Title Films and Leverage, it's truly the best production team we could have imagined for this remake," said Gaget, who's attending the AFM with Yohann Comte, Gaumont Intl. deputy head of sales.
"Blank" is also set for South Korean makeover, produced by Syd Lim at Barunson and Young Films, whose track record include such critically-aclaimed pics as Jee-woon Kim's comedy adventure "The Good, the Bad, the Weird," Joon-ho Bong's mystery thriller "Mother" and Dae-woo Kim's drama "The Servant."
The Asian redo will be helmed by up-and-comer Juhn Jaihong, a frequent Kim Ki-duk collaborator, whose debut "Beautiful" preemed at Berlin in 2008; and follow-up, post-war drama romance "Poongsan Dog," was commercially successful, grossing over $11 million worldwide.
Jay Lee at Barunson Co., and Comte at Gaumont negotiated the South Korean remake deal.
Gaumont will handle international sales -- except Asia -- on the Asian makeover.
Along with Olivier Marchal, Cavaye ranks as Gaul's top thriller helmer. He's now lensing his third and most ambitious pic yet, "Mea Culpa," a $20 million action thriller toplining Lellouche, Vincent Lindon ("Mademoiselle Chambon") and Nadine Labaki ("Where Do We Go Now"). Gaumont is shopping "Mea Culpa" at the AFM.
