Cannes Market: Bleecker Street picks up U.S. rights to Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut ‘Emily’ starring Emma Mackey
Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights for writer-director Frances O’Connor’s (A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Mansfield Park) directorial debut Emily, revealing Emily Brontë’s own romantic story in the lead up to her seminal novel, “Wuthering Heights.” Bleecker Street is planning a 2023 theatrical release. Warner Bros. will release the film wide throughout UK cinemas.
Emily imagines the transformative, exhilarating and uplifting journey to womanhood of one of the world’s most famous, enigmatic and passionate writers.
BAFTA nominee Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”, Barbie) leads a cast of vibrant young British talent, including Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk, The Duke), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Invisible Man, Mr. Malcolm’s List), Alexandra Dowling (The Musketeers) and Amelia Gething (The Spanish Princess) as well as BAFTA nominee Gemma Jones (Ammonite, Rocketman) and Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty).
The acquisition was negotiated by Bleecker Street’s Head of Acquisitions, Kent Sanderson with Avy Eschenasy on behalf of Bleecker Street alongside Embankment, who serve as Executive Producers and are handling global sales.
Emily is produced by Piers Tempest (Military Wives, Ordinary Love, The Wife), David Barron (the Harry Potter franchise, Cinderella, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) and with Robert Connolly and Robert Patterson of Arenamedia (The Dry, Paper Planes). Peter Touche is an Executive Producer for Ingenious who provided funding.
Peter Touche of Ingenious Media commented: “At Ingenious we have made a deliberate push to bring more female driven films to audiences. We are delighted that Bleecker Street shares this vision as they are the U.S. distributor of many of them, including: Military Wives, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Emma Holly Jones’ upcoming release Mr. Malcolm’s List, Catherine Hardwicke’s Mafia Mamma which is currently in production, and now Frances O’Connor’s breath-taking directorial debut Emily.”
Emma Mackey and Fionn Whitehead are represented by Curtis Brown Group and CAA; Oliver Jackson-Cohen is repped by Hamilton Hodell and Management 360; Alexandra Dowling by Curtis Brown Group and MGMT Entertainment; Amelia Gething by Curtis Brown Grou; Gemma Jones by Conway van Gelder Grant and Insight; and Adrian Dunbar by Markham, Froggatt and Irwin and The Dench Arnold Agency.
Bleecker Street recent and upcoming releases include Montana Story with Haley Lu Richardson which released on May 13th; Emma Holly Jones’ Mr. Malcolm’s List with Freida Pinto on July 1st; A Love Song starring Dale Dickey on July 29th; James Ponsoldt’s Summering on August 12th; Abi Damaris Corbin’s 892 with John Boyega on August 26th; and Academy Award-winning director Guy Nattiv’s Golda starring Academy Award winner Helen Mirren later this year.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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