Brett Haley to helm Australian comedy-drama “Wonderful Unknown”

PanARMENIAN.Net - “I’ll See You in My Dreams” helmer Brett Haley has come on board Lost City’s Australian comedy-drama “Wonderful Unknown,” Variety has learned exclusively.

Lost City will be financing and producing “Wonderful Unknown.” Mason Novick is producing with Lost City’s John Finemore and James Hoppe.

Lost City’s Elizabeth Grave is exec producing with Jenny Lalor.

Haley will direct from a script by Australian screenwriter Verity Colquhoun about a devoted but under-appreciated housewife, who discovers that her mother’s last wish is to have her ashes scattered in a remote area of Western Australia. Together with her wild best friend, she goes on a journey that takes her across the beautiful and rugged Australian landscape in an adventure that reveals an inner strength she never imagined and the mystery of her mother’s wishes.

Producers intend to shoot in the fall of 2016 in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, taking advantage of some of the country’s landmark scenery.

“I’ll See You in My Dreams,” starring Blythe Danner and Sam Elliott, received strong reviews and performed well at the specialty box office with $7.5 million for Bleecker Street.

Novick’s credits include “Bad Words,” “Juno” and “500 Days of Summer.”

Lost City is currently in post production on the Netflix sci-fi action movie “Arq,” starring Robbie Amell and Rachael Taylor. The company operates from headquarters in Los Angeles with additional offices in Melbourne, Australia.

In its first year, Lost City has come on board “Starvation Heights,” currently being adapted by Aaron Rabin; “Money Shot,” a novel being adapted by Kel Symons and to be directed by Adria Petty; the Blacklist script “One Fell Swoop,” in partnership with Wonderland Sound & Vision; and the thriller “The Shave,” written by Thomas White and Miles Hubley, in partnership with Route One Entertainment.