Benicio del Toro, Tim Robbins’ “Perfect Day” to be sold worldwide

PanARMENIAN.Net - London-based sales-finance house WestEnd Films has closed multiple pre-sales off Cannes on the upcoming “A Perfect Day”, starring Benicio del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko and Melanie Thierry, Variety said.

In early deals off a title WestEnd Films picked up in March in the build-up to Cannes, early territories closed include France (TF1/UGC), Germany (X-Verleih), Benelux (Wild Bunch), Switzerland (Praesens), Israel (United King), Middle East (ECS), Greece (Spentzos Film), Malaysia (Suraya), South-Africa (M-Net), and ex-Yugoslavia (VTI).

Further territories are under negotiation; initial discussions have begun for a sale to North America.

“Perfect Day’s” producers are finalizing Spanish distribution rights with a major Hollywood studio. The film is scheduled for delivery at the end of 2014.

Del Toro, Robbins, Kurylenko and French actress Thierry (“Babylon AD”) topline as conflict-zone aid-workers caught in a race against time to save the water supply of a divided community. The four contrasting personalities must deal with ordinary personal dramas in an extraordinary environment – where staying sane is the biggest challenge on this not-so perfect day.

Adapting the novel “Dejarse Llover,” by Paula Farias, a a member of Doctors Without Fronteirs, “A Perfect Day” marks the highly anticipated English-language feature debut of acclaimed Spanish director and multiple Goya winner Fernando Leon de Aranoa whose best-known Spanish films, humor-leavened social dramas such as “Mondays in the Sun,” with Javier Bardem, have broken out to notable box office.

Following “Princesses” and “Amador,” “A Perfect Day” also marks the third co-production between Fernando Leon’s Reposado and Jaume Roures at Mediapro which have tewmed to produce the €7 million ($9.5 million) film.

“Fernando’s endearing screenplay had already been extremely well received by the marketplace prior to Cannes,” said WestEnd managing director Maya Amsellem.

“Buyers immediately responded to the first footage we unveiled at the festival, validating the film’s life-affirming quality and unique payoff: Achieving human profundity via its wall of comedy.”

Principal photography wrapped May 23 in southern Spain. A d.p. on Iciar Bollain’s “Even the Rain” and Julio Medem’s “Room in Rome,”Alex Catalan served as cinematographer on “A Perfect Day.”

“We are working closely with WestEnd Films, who understood the international potential of the project and vouched for the film, as shown by the great sales results in Cannes,” said Javier Mendez, executive producer for Mediapro.