HOLLYWOOD, January 31, 2002 -- In a multi-territorial deal, Paramount Classics has acquired the rights to Michael Petroni’s award-winning, TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US starring Guy Pearce and Helena Bonham-Carter from Key Entertainment and Tomorrow Film Corp.
Written and directed by Australian filmmaker Michael Petroni, Till Human Voices Wake Us was shot in Australia and co-financed by the Australian Film Finance Corporation, Film Victoria and Los Angeles based Key Entertainment. Picture was produced by Key Entertainment's Matthias Emcke and Thomas Augsberger and Melbourne based Shana Levine, Dean Murphy, Nigel Odell and David Redman of Instinct Entertainment. The deal with Paramount Classics was negotiated by the picture's executive producer and worldwide sales agent, Yoram Pelman of Tomorrow Film Corp.
A supernatural romance, Till Human Voices Wake Us tells the story of a psychologist (Pearce), who, upon returning to his childhood home to bury his father, encounters a mysterious young woman (Bonham-Carter) who evokes memories of a long-lost love. Forcing him to relinquish the past, the woman helps him embrace the future.
"It is an enormous pleasure to be working with Michael. Guy and Helena play out this hauntingly beautiful drama so remarkably, we were immediately drawn to this unusually sophisticated and sensitive film," commented Paramount Classics' Co-Presidents Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein.
Michael Petroni's script of Till Human Voices Wake Us had received both the AFI's Screenplay of the Year and the WGA/Scenario Magazine award for Best New Screenplay in 1996. Petroni is currently writing Long Green Shore with Russell Crowe attached to star and direct for Intermedia and has completed Further Down the Line for Julia Roberts at Revolution. He also wrote Revelation to be directed by Danny de Vito and starring George Clooney. In addition, Petroni co-wrote two films that will be released this year, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys starring Jodie Foster and Queen of the Damned for Warner Bros.
Petroni commented, "Till Human Voices Wake Us was such a personal project and I hope audiences hook into the emotion of this piece. I am extremely pleased that Paramount Classics will be distributing it with the passion and enthusiasm with which they have released so many other special films." Petroni is represented by UTA, David Evans, Esq., and Andrew Deane of Immortal Entertainment, who is also a co-executive producer on Till Human Voices Wake Us.
Paramount Classics has acquired North American and international distribution rights for the United Kingdom, South Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
Key Entertainment recently produced Slap Her, She's French for Constantin Films/Intermedia and is in pre-production on the Nick Cassavetes directed Solace for New Line Cinema.
Tomorrow Films is a production and sales company, which, in a joint venture with HSI Productions has recently produced The Third Wheel starring Luke Wilson, Ben Affleck and Denise Richards, slated for a Spring 2002 release and American Girl, starring Jena Malone and Brad Renfro. Tomorrow Films and Yoram Pelman have recently produced and/or distributed worldwide Just the Ticket starring Andy Garcia and Andie MacDowell, Double Bang starring William Baldwin and Elizabeth Mitchell and Focus starring William H. Macy and Laura Dern.
Paramount Classics is the autonomous specialized division of Paramount Pictures. Recent films for Paramount Classics include the widely praised and official Colombian selection for Best Foreign Language Film, Our Lady of the Assassins from director Barbet Schroeder; Neal Slavin's Focus, starring William H. Macy, Laura Dern, Michael Lee Aday and David Paymer, based on the controversial Arthur Miller novel of the same name; Eva Gardos' An American Rhapsody starring Nastassja Kinski, Tony Goldwyn and Scarlett Johansson and the romantic comedy Sidewalks of New York from writer-director Edward Burns, starring Burns, Heather Graham, Stanley Tucci and Dennis Farina.
Paramount Classics' other recent acquisitions include Henry Jaglom's romantic comedy Festival in Cannes starring Anouk Aimee, Maxmillian Schell and Ron Silver; Triumph of Love, directed by Clare Peploe, produced by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Ben Kingsley and Mira Sorvino; The Reckoning starring Willem Dafoe and Paul Bettany; and the romantic comedy of errors The Emperor's New Clothes starring Ian Holm in a double role.
