Overture Films have evidently delayed production on a number of its projects including David Gordon Green’s adaptation of Steve Niles’ “Freaks Of The Heartland” and Seth Gordon’s divorce-comedy “Celeste And Jesse Forever.”
The company is reportedly struggling financially and is said to be on the verge of a buyout. Consequently, they have put a number of projects on hold including Gordon Green’s graphic novel adaptation, Gordon’s Rashida Jones co-scribed comedy which she was also set to star in as well as crime thriller “Jar City” and “Speech And Debate.”
‘Freaks,’ which follows a boy’s attempt to help a younger mutant brother escape from their Middle-America hometown, was originally set to be Gordon Green’s follow up to medieval-stoner-comedy “Your Highness,” starring James Franco, Danny McBride, Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel, which is due out October this year. The news now puts his remake of Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” in pole position as his next project, though that may have already been the case.
‘Forever,’ meanwhile, centers on a young couple who try maintain a friendship during a divorce. The Black List script had just gained helmer Gordon and was already in the midst of its casting process, an indication of Overture’s problems.
It’s a bittersweet week for Gordon — his planned follow-up to ‘Forever,’ workplace comedy “Horrible Bosses,” was just announced by New Line as a fixture for their 2011 schedule but now finds himself on an extended holiday. The news though will be definite blow for Jones and co-scribe Will McCormack, with this being their first collaboration.
It remains to be seen whether these projects will ever be revived but given the dire straits the company seems to be in, it seems doubtful. Their future prospects don’t look much brighter either with their box office receipts relying on such films as horror flick ‘The Crazies,” cop drama “Brooklyn’s Finest,” the American remake of “Let The Right One In” and the De Niro-Norton starrer “Stone.”
