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| Eric Bana |
BLOOM to Handle International Sales Commencing in Berlin; Black Bear Pictures to Finance
BLOOM announced on Feb. 9 that Diane Kruger (In the Fade, Inglorious Bastards) and Eric Bana (Munich, Chopper, Lone Survivor) are in negotiations to star in Bethlehem director Yuval Adler’s espionage-thriller "The Operative," the story of a woman recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran who becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject.
The screenplay is written by Adler and adapted from the Israeli best-seller The English Teacher, written by former Israeli intelligence officer Yiftach Reicher Atir, culled from the real-life stories of Mossad operatives.
Spiro Films’ Eitan Mansuri (Foxtrot), Archer Gray’s Anne Carey (20th Century Women,The American, Mr. Holmes), and Match Factory Production’s Michael Weber and Viola Fügen (Foxtrot, Jupiter’s Moon) will produce.
Academy Award® Nominee Teddy Schwarzman (The Imitation Game, Mudbound, upcoming Ben is Back) will executive produce and finance under his Black Bear Pictures banner.
Le Pacte’s Jean Labadie is co-producing the film, which is supported by the Israeli Film Fund and Film and Medienstiftung NRW. Endeavor Content will handle U.S. sales with BLOOM introducing to foreign buyers next week at the Berlin Film Festival.
Rachel (Kruger), a rogue spy from Israel’s feared national intelligence force Mossad, vanishes without a trace while attending her father’s funeral in London.
The only clue to her whereabouts is a cryptic phone call she places to her former handler Thomas (Bana), who is then summoned from Germany to Israel by Mossad.
With Rachel’s life immersed in her assignments as part of a vast espionage effort against Iran’s nuclear program, Thomas must retrace her steps to determine what threats she may now pose to their operation, while also working to protect her.
Adler is an Israeli writer/filmmaker known for his debut feature-length film Bethlehem which won the Fedeora Award for Best Picture at the Venice Film Festival.
The film also received six Israeli Academy Awards® and was the Israeli entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards®.
Kruger recently starred in the acclaimed film, In the Fade, which won a Golden Globe® for best foreign language film and was nominated for Palm D’Or, with Kruger winning best actress out of the Cannes Film Festival.
Other notable credits include: Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Unknown, and FX’s “The Bridge.”
Bana also has an impressive list of credits including Munich, Chopper, Black Hawk Down, Lone Survivor, Star Trek, Troy, Funny People, and the Spring 2018 release of The Forgiven.
Adler is represented by WME and Novo; Kruger is represented by UTA and Untitled Entertainment; and Bana is represented by WME and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
BLOOM’s diversified slate includes: Scott Cooper’s Hostiles which is currently in theaters and starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike and Wes Studi; Bill Holderman’s Book Club starring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen which Paramount Pictures will release; Paul Weitz’s Bel Canto starring Julianne Moore; Jake Scott’s The Burning Woman, starring Christina Hendricks and Sienna Miller; Zhang Yimou’s Shadow; Matthew Heineman’s A Private War starring Rosamund Pike; Craig S. Zahler’s Dragged Across Concrete starring Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn which will be released by Lionsgate; Strangers: Prey at Night from Johnannes Roberts; Andrea Di Stefano’s Three Seconds, starring Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Common, and Clive Owen; and Victor Levin’s Destination Wedding starring Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder.
BLOOM recently entered into a first-look deal with filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée and Nathan Ross’ Crazyrose banner, where they will partner on film, TV and documentaries. This deal gives BLOOM a strategic film & TV partner to enter into the original content and production space.
