EXCLUSIVE: BAFTA-winner Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), coming off a lauded turn in HBO’s The White Lotus S3, is set to star opposite Oscar winner Angelina Jolie in Marc Forster feature adaptation of Anxious People, the Black Bear and Hope Studios project we told you about coming into the Cannes market.
A buzzy project just got buzzier. The synopsis reads: “The day before Christmas Eve, investment banker Zara (Jolie) begrudgingly finds herself mingling with a group of strangers at an open house. When a reluctant bank robber, Grace (Wood), inadvertently takes the group hostage, chaos and oversharing ensues, secrets are revealed and literally nothing goes according to plan. A film about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.”
Based on A Man Called Ove author Fredrik Backman’s novel, the film is being sold for international at Cannes by Black Bear and WME Independent for domestic. The story has been adapted for the screen by Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Magee, known for movies including A Man Called Otto, Life of Pi, and Finding Neverland.
The movie will reunite some of the key players behind the 2022 feature adaptation of A Man Called Otto ($110M global box office), also based on Backman’s novel. Hope Studios’ Fredrik Wikström Nicastro (A Man Called Otto) and Renée Wolfe (A Man Called Otto) of 2DUX2 will produce, with A Man Called Otto and World War Z director Forster, Magee and Neda Backman executive-producing.
Wood’s feature work includes starring with Bill Nighy in Oscar nominated Living, and opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.
Hope Studios, which has offices in Stockholm and London, develops, finances, produces, and sells international films and TV for the global market. The firm has an overall deal with Black Bear, which partners with the company on international sales and distribution. 2DUX2, owned by Marc Forster and Renée Wolfe, will produce with Hope Studios.
Hope Studios’ current slate also includes The Night House, an adaptation of master storyteller Jo Nesbø’s chilling novel of the same name starring Aaron Paul, which is set to shoot this summer in Álava, Spain. The studio is also setting up a feature adaptation of Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.
Black Bear’s Cannes slate also includes David O. Rusell’s Shutout, starring Robert De Niro and Jenna Ortega.
Wood is represented by CAA, Independent Talent Group and Slone, Offer.
