Honey Boy director Alma Har’el’s next project Wet is heading to the TIFF market with Patrick Wachsberger’s 193 and is attracting what could be a killer cast.
News of the project broke online last month via Page Six who reported that Oscar winner Javier Bardem was in talks. Bardem remains in early talks for the project, and we can reveal that Mission Impossible and Dune star Rebecca Ferguson, Heated Rivalry‘s man-of-the-moment Connor Storrie and Marty Supreme breakout Odessa A’zion are also in very early discussions.
No deals are done and as is often the case with market packages, there’s a chance they change or don’t come together at all, but buyers are likely to spark to this cast.
Little has been revealed about the plot but we can confirm the original script comes from Har’el and Christian Stangeby based on his spec and is said to be in the vein of HBO’s Succession and the Oscar nominated Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness. If the script gets close to those projects, buyers will likely be in thrall.
Wachsberger’s 193 is handling international sales. Fifth Season is due to finance and produce alongside Chris Leggett, Riva Marker, and Har’el. The hope is to shoot in Spain early next year.
Har’el’s last feature was her debut, Honey Boy, which was written by and starred Shia LaBeouf. The 2019 film, which was picked up by Amazon, garnered largely positive notices and played at festivals including Sundance and TIFF.
Two-time Indie spirit nominee Har’el was in development on an adaptation of dystopian science-fiction novel Mockingbird for Searchlight. In the meantime, she has also directed TV.
Bardem had great write-ups for his turn in Spanish movie The Beloved at Cannes and U.S. distributor Kino Lorber is aiming for a fifth Oscar nomination for the actor.
Reps and 193 declined to comment.
