The U.S. boutique film studio Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the U.S. rights to Atom Egoyan's Adoration, which will compete next month for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize in Cannes.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Egoyan said yesterday that he was thrilled with the partnership, adding that Sony Pictures Classics is "the premiere distributor for this type of film.
"They're incredibly savvy ... and I've always wanted to work with them. I've always felt they were the best people to market my film."
Besides acquiring the rights to distribute Adoration in the United States, Sony will sell the $5.5-million movie in Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.
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Normally, Egoyan said he and his executive producer, Robert Lantos, of Serendipity Point Films, would screen the film to a large number of international distributors after the film's world premiere on May 22 at the Cannes Festival.
"That process is always exciting, heated, and we would get great offers," Egoyan concedes. "But we felt, with Adoration, it would be best to take a different approach.
"So a few weeks ago, we invited [Sony] co-presidents Michael Baker and Tom Bernard to a private screening at the Deluxe [studio] here in Toronto. They were very impassioned about it, which was great. It's not the traditional way to go, but we feel it works well for this deal.
"And Michael and Tom were vital in introducing my work to the U.S. in the early nineties."
In a statement, Sony Pictures Classic said that "Atom is at the peak of his form with Adoration. This is an overwhelmingly satisfying movie that speaks to the emotional complexity of our modern lives." Previous Sony Classic titles include The Lives of Others; Volver; Capote; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and David Cronenberg's Spider.
Egoyan's Adoration will compete next month for the Palme d'Or alongside films by Clint Eastwood and Steven Soderbergh. Blindness, a Canadian co-production from Toronto's Rhombus Media, is also in competition and will open the festival.
Adoration focuses on one young man's fascination with the possibility that he is the spawn of two historical figures - and how his personal obsession is both enabled, and threatened, by technology. Shot in Toronto, it has an ensemble cast that includes Scott Speedman, Rachel Blanchard, Kenneth Welsh, Arsinée Khanjian (Egoyan's wife) and newcomer Devon Bostick, a 16-year-old who plays the lead.
"It's an emotionally loaded family drama set very much in the moment," Egoyan explains. "But at the heart, it's a story about parents and kids. It uses technology to explore how we transmit stories to kids. And how kids transmit their personalities back to us."
The film's inclusion in the Official Selection marks the sixth time that a feature film from the Victoria-raised, Toronto-based director has made the cut. Adoration, expected in theatres this fall, will be distributed in Canada and elsewhere internationally by Toronto's Maximum Film.
"I was initially hoping for a summer release on the heels of Cannes. But Sony Pictures Classics is not ready for that and it would be foolish to not do a same-date release with the States."
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