May 19, 2017 - 15:24 AMT
HBO Latino nabs Gael Garcia Bernal’s “You’re Killing Me, Susana”

HBO Latino has acquired U.S. pay TV and SVOD rights to “You’re Killing Me, Susana”, a romantic comedy-then-drama powered by a charismatic performance by Gael Garcia Bernal, Variety said.

In further first deals, the latest movie from “Frida” producer and “Arrancame la vida” director Roberto Sneider, has closed Spain (Versus Ent.), Australia/New Zealand (Palace), Greece (Tanweer), and Taiwan (AVjet Intl. Media).

These will not be the last by Guido Rud’s FilmSharks Intl., which announced it has acquired “Susana” at Berlin: France, Germany, the U.K., Scandinavia, China, Korea and CIS are under negotiations; an Eastern Europe deal is imminent, Rud said.

Written by Sneider and Luis Camara, the purposely messy movie, as loud and rambunctious as the Mexican ethos it plumbs, “You’re Killing Me, Susana” tracks Eligio, a philandering two-bit Mexican actor who, when his wife (Veronica) unsurprisingly abandons him, pursues her to a writing workshop in the snowy wastes of Iowa.

A study of the challenges of love for two self-driven independently-minded characters – one reason why Garcia Bernal wanted to make the movie so “fervently,” he told Variety – “Susana” also reflects the ambivalence Mexicans feel towards the glories – its gastronomy – and failings – machismo – of their own culture.

“We can laugh out loud at our misfortunes and failures yet at the same time we are incredibly proud at our acceptance of this and how this makes us a much more mixed, chaotic, free definition of a sophisticated culture,” Garcia Bernal told Variety.

“Gael Garcia Bernal proves once again that he is like mature wine getting better with every film. This is well-perceived by world buyers, critics and festivals,” said Rud.