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11-05-2008, 05:31 AM
November 4, 2008
Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham, Sam Riley, 50 Cent and Ray Liotta will star in "13," an English-language remake of the 2005 French pic "13 Tzameti."
That psychological thriller won the grand jury prize for world cinema at the Sundance Film Festival.
Gela Babluani, who wrote and directed the original, has penned the script and will direct a film that begins production in New York on Nov. 20.
Riley ("Control") plays the title character, a young man who stumbles into an underground competition where the wealthy gamble on human beings in a Russian Roulette-like competition.
Rourke, who is starring in his first film since drawing acclaim for Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," will play a convict in a Mexican prison who is sold into the competition.
Winstone, who just starred with Mel Gibson in the Martin Campbell-directed "Edge of Darkness," will play a competitor who has been sprung from a mental institution to participate; 50 Cent ("Righteous Kill") will play an employee assigned to escort Rourke's character to the bloody game.
Statham, who next appears in "Transporter 3," plays a wealthy British man who bets on the competition and has a peculiar interest in one of the competitors. Liotta, who's wrapping "Youth in Revolt," will play a cop on the trail of the illegal game.
The thriller will be produced by Rick Schwartz and his Overnight Prods. label; Barbarian Films' Aaron Kaufman; and Valerio Morabito.
The film is being financed by Barbarian. Offshore territories will be sold by Paramount Vantage, and Endeavor is representing the film. A domestic distribution deal is expected by the time production begins.
Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham, Sam Riley, 50 Cent and Ray Liotta will star in "13," an English-language remake of the 2005 French pic "13 Tzameti."
That psychological thriller won the grand jury prize for world cinema at the Sundance Film Festival.
Gela Babluani, who wrote and directed the original, has penned the script and will direct a film that begins production in New York on Nov. 20.
Riley ("Control") plays the title character, a young man who stumbles into an underground competition where the wealthy gamble on human beings in a Russian Roulette-like competition.
Rourke, who is starring in his first film since drawing acclaim for Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," will play a convict in a Mexican prison who is sold into the competition.
Winstone, who just starred with Mel Gibson in the Martin Campbell-directed "Edge of Darkness," will play a competitor who has been sprung from a mental institution to participate; 50 Cent ("Righteous Kill") will play an employee assigned to escort Rourke's character to the bloody game.
Statham, who next appears in "Transporter 3," plays a wealthy British man who bets on the competition and has a peculiar interest in one of the competitors. Liotta, who's wrapping "Youth in Revolt," will play a cop on the trail of the illegal game.
The thriller will be produced by Rick Schwartz and his Overnight Prods. label; Barbarian Films' Aaron Kaufman; and Valerio Morabito.
The film is being financed by Barbarian. Offshore territories will be sold by Paramount Vantage, and Endeavor is representing the film. A domestic distribution deal is expected by the time production begins.