Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled new film starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Focus will distribute the film in the U.S. with Universal Pictures handling international distribution. Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures is producing the movie, with Anderson and JoAnne Sellar producing through his Ghoulardi Film Company. The film will begin production in January for release in 2017.
Continuing a creative collaboration following 2007’s There Will Be Blood, which earned Mr. Day-Lewis the Best Actor Academy Award, and the film nominations for Best Picture, Directing, and Screenplay, Anderson will once again explore a distinctive and surging milieu of the 20th century through the new movie – the couture world of 1950s London.
Day-Lewis has also won the Best Actor Academy Award for his performances in Lincoln and My Left Foot, while Anderson has also received Academy Award nominations for his screenplays of Inherent Vice, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights, all of which he directed. Ellison has received three Academy Award nominations for her work as producer of the Best Picture nominees American Hustle, Her, and Zero Dark Thirty; she was also producer alongside Anderson and Sellar on his film The Master, which was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Focus chairman Peter Kujawski commented, “Paul Thomas Anderson is a singular storyteller who has the ability to mesmerize audiences by creating complex and fascinating characters. It is our privilege to bring Daniel Day-Lewis’ reteaming with Paul to movie lovers who have long hoped for their reunion.”
Added Ellison, “Amongst their contemporaries, Paul and Daniel truly represent the highest tier of artistry in film. We are thrilled to partner with Peter and his entire team at Focus and collaborate once again with Paul on this ever original, visionary story. We cannot wait to see this lush world come to life with Daniel at the center.”
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
