The Weinstein Company Acquires 'Factory Girl'

The Weinstein Company Acquires 'Factory Girl'

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Weinstein Company has acquired from L.I.F.T. Productions all rights in North America, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa to "Factory Girl," the Edie Sedgwick biopic directed by George Hickenlooper, starring Sienna Miller, Hayden Christensen, Guy Pearce, Mena Suvari and Jimmy Fallon. The announcement was made today by Agnes Mentre, head of acquisitions for The Weinstein Company, at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Currently in production in Shreveport, Louisiana, the film is being financed by L.I.F.T. Productions and produced by L.I.F.T. principals J. Malcolm Petal and Kimberly C. Anderson, along with Holly Wiersma, Morris Bart and Aaron Richard Golub. The project was brought to The Weinstein Company by Michelle Krumm, executive vice president of acquisitions and co-productions for TWC.

Written by Captain Mauzner ("Wonderland"), "Factory Girl" is set in 1965, the year Sedgwick met Andy Warhol and became known as his muse and later died of a barbiturate overdose in 1971 at the age of 28.

"This is precisely the type of unique and compelling story that the Weinsteins have been so successful marketing. They are the ideal distributors for this project," stated L.I.F.T. CEO and Producer, J. Malcolm Petal.

"We are thrilled to be distributing Factory Girl which is a complex story being portrayed by an incredibly talented cast," said Michelle Krumm. "Captain Mauzner has written a great script and we are excited to be working with director George Hickenlooper."

Mentre and Barry Littman, executive vice president of business and legal affairs, negotiated on behalf of The Weinstein Company, while Petal negotiated on behalf of L.I.F.T. Productions.

ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

The Weinstein Company was created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corporation in 1979. TWC is a multi-media company that officially launched on October 1, 2005. Dimension Films, the genre label that was founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, is also included under the TWC banner.

Since launching on October 1, 2005, The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films have released the sexy psychological thriller "Derailed," starring Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen; "The Libertine," starring Johnny Depp and Samantha Morton; "Transamerica," starring 2005 Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe winner Felicity Huffman; "Mrs. Henderson Presents," starring Academy Award winner Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins; "Wolf Creek," the terrifying Australian horror film based on true events; "The Matador," starring Golden Globe nominee Pierce Brosnan and "Hoodwinked," a CGI animated family film with voiceovers by Glenn Close, Jim Belushi and Anne Hathaway.

Upcoming releases include; "Lucky Number Slevin," starring Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, and Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, and Sir Ben Kingsley; "Breaking & Entering," written and directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn and Vera Farmiga; "Decameron," starring Hayden Christensen and Mischa Barton; "Last Legion," starring Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley; "Young Hannibal," the prequel to the incredibly successful and legendary Hannibal Lecter series; "Scary Movie 4," the latest installment in the hugely successful and hilarious horror- parody series; "Sin City 2," the second installment in the franchise based on the electrifying graphic novels from Frank Miller, which will be co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Miller; "Pulse," a remake of a Japanese horror film starring Kristen Bell, Christina Milian, and Ian Somerhalder; "Passion of the Clerks," a new film from Kevin Smith; "Killshot," a film from Academy Award winning director John Madden starring Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Rosario Dawson, and Johnny Knoxville; "Awake," starring Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen; "School for Scoundrels," directed by Todd Phillips and starring Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder; and "Grind House," a groundbreaking film that will unite two of the world's most legendary filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.

During the Weinsteins' tenure at Miramax Films the company released some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films, including fifteen Best Picture nominations and three Best Pictures of the Year for "The English Patient," Shakespeare In Love" and "Chicago." The films, which received 249 Academy Award(R) nominations and won 60 Oscars(R), have generated billions of dollars in worldwide box office receipts and billions more in home video sales. In its history, Dimension Films has released some of the most successful franchises including "Scream," "Spy Kids" and "Scary Movie."

ABOUT L.I.F.T. PRODUCTIONS

L.I.F.T. Productions, Louisiana Institute of Film Technology, is a full service film and television production studio with offices based out of New Orleans, Harahan, and Shreveport Louisiana. L.I.F.T. has produced more than 30 features and long-form television programs since its inception in 2002. This year L.I.F.T. received 12 Emmy nominations, including nods to co-founders Malcolm Petal and Kimberly C. Anderson as producers. L.I.F.T.'s theatrical release Waiting marked its first wide release in October, 2005. Upcoming theatrical releases financed and produced by L.I.F.T. include feature films Bug (Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr.) and Five Fingers (Laurence Fishburne, Ryan Phillippe), both distributed by Lions Gate Films, and The Last Time (Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser), co-produced by L.I.F.T. and Element Films. L.I.F.T. not only provides financing, but is a full-service studio with its own transportation fleet, state-of-the-art post production equipment and edit suites, and is in the process of building a 300,000 square foot, state-of-the- art production complex in downtown New Orleans.

Source: The Weinstein Company

CONTACT: Sarah Rothman, 646-862-3823, or Julie Cloutier, 646-862-3825,
both for The Weinstein Company; or for L.I.F.T. Productions, media,
504-565-5438, or catherine@lift-la.com, or http://www.lift-la.com/

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