Talk about a good first impression. On the first day of David Ellison’s takeover at Paramount, his film studio won a highly competitive auction for the big screen reunion between Timothée Chalamet and James Mangold.
Paramount will distribute “High Side,” starring Chalamet and directed by Mangold, who previously collaborated to Oscar-nominated success on the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.”
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Chernin Entertainment will produce the project based on an original story by Jaimie Oliveira, who will also adapt the script. The film is described as “Heat” meets “Hell or High Water.” Chalamet will play a former Motocross racer, haunted by a career-ending crash and a long history of abandonment in a broken family. His estranged brother draws him back on the bike and into danger for a series of bank robberies as the FBI closes in on the pair.
“We’re thrilled to be in business with visionary artists like James and Timothée, and exceptional collaborators like Peter and David at Chernin. What Jaime has created reflects the kind of bold, original storytelling we’re committed to championing at Paramount – and we couldn’t be more excited to hit the ground running with High Side,” said Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, the new co-chairs of Paramount Pictures.
Director Mangold praised Goldberg and Greenstein as well as their CEO, billionaire scion Daivd Ellison, as showing “a real commitment to original, story-driven filmmaking on the big screen and this passion made it easy for Timothée, Peter, and me to land on this project. Timothée is a trusted collaborator, a generational artist and a person I adore. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and work together again.”
Chernin and Mangold have a successful history, collaborating on films like “The Greatest Showman” and “Ford v. Ferrari.”
WME, Ziffren Brittenham and Next Wave represented Chernin in the deal. Mangold is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Chalamet is represented by Brian Swardstrom, UTA, Gang Tyre and Relevant. Oliveira is represented by Sugar23 and Yorn Levine.
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