SC Films reps rights at AFM
By Dave McNary

Vanguard Animation is partnering with Arc Prods. on its CG 3D animated heist film, "The Nut House" with production to start in January.

Ross Venokur making his directorial debut from his own script with John Rice also directing.

SC Films International is handling worldwide sales efforts at the upcoming American Film Market.

The story begins when mega-conglomerate Nut House Nuts harvests the forest for its own commercial gain and ex-con squirrel plans the heist of the century -- breaking into the high-security packaging plant to reclaim the nuts with the aid of his trusty, right-hand porcupine and an elite team of scrappy forest dwellers.

Film will be produced by John Williams and "Kung Fu Panda" director John Stevenson. Williams producing credits include the first two "Shrek" films, "Valiant," "Space Chimps" and the upcoming "On the Road," directed by Walter Salles.

Geneva Wasserman, longtime licensing exec in feature animation, is also an executive producer and will mount a worldwide licensing and merchandising program for "The Nut House."

Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Jamie Bell: the eternal orphan

Billy Elliot turned him into a ‘brat’. But playing Tintin, in Steven Spielberg’s eye-popping new film, has made Jamie Bell realise what he really is – a lost child.

 Jamie Bell had to get a grip. There he was, the star of Billy Elliot, an unknown 15 year-old from a ­single-parent family in Billingham, Teesside, who beat hundreds of other wannabes to play the working class boy who loved ballet in the 2000 film. He won a Bafta; Russell Crowe was his new best friend. What was not to like? Himself, it seems.

“I lost my mind at 15,” says Bell of his hype-induced meltdown. He went back to school and managed to finish his GCSEs. But, “I’d been shown a world where there were no boundaries, where everyone gave me all the power. And I was like, ‘This is great!’ Then that was gone. But I was like, ‘Yeah, but I still want that.’ I’d lost my humble, very quiet, introverted sensibilities which I think I definitely had as a kid. And I…” Became a brat?

“Yeah, I became a little a-------,” he smiles. “And, you know, you’re a 15-year-old kid so it’s your world. And I was a b------ at 16! But still, looking back on it now, it was worry­ing because it is very persuasive, and you have all these grown-ups who it seems are encouraging it. And that’s unhealthy.” But unlike so many child stars before him, Bell’s spin-out was short-lived.

His mother, his manager and Stephen Daldry, the Billy Elliot director who became the mentor and father figure that Bell had never had, helped steer him right. (Bell has never had contact with his father, who left before he was born.) He chose parts in a few indie films, and turned down parts in American teen movies, “which focused on me as a kid. I wanted to still be a kid, but I came from the north east of England. I didn’t really sympathise or empathise with those kinds of characters.” And so he quietly got on with building a decent career as an actor. The rampaging ego retreated.

Since then he’s had a busy, buzzy career working with edgy(ish) directors such as Carey Fukunaga (in last month’s Jane Eyre), Kevin MacDonald (in spring’s The Eagle), David Mackenzie (in 2007’s Hallam Foe) and Thomas Vinterberg (in 2005’s Dear Wendy) as well as marquee names like Clint Eastwood (Flags of our Fathers) and Peter Jackson (King Kong). But he is still, to many cinemagoers, That Kid Who Was In Billy Elliot. So when, a couple of years ago, he was asked to call to try out for the lead in a blockbusting superhero franchise, he thought he’d be a fool to say no.

Sandrine Rottier

SC Films International Limited

3a Lower James Street, Soho, London. W1F 9EH

T: +44 (0)207 287 1900, Mb: +44 776 494 2149, F: +44 (0)207 287 0487

E: simon@scfilmsinternational.com, / www.scfilmsinternational.com

RETREAT was my first film today at Fantastic Fest, and I thought Jamie Bell's performance was inspired. Muldoon does a lot of our transcribing work here at AICN, and he came out of the same screening. Here are his thoughts on RETREAT!

Muldoon Reviews RETREAT

So it’s day three of Fantastic Fest and so far my mind is blown. I’ve seen movie after movie of crazy goodness with Korean flicks like HAUNTERS and THE YELLOW SEA topping my faves up until now.

I just caught first time director Carl Tibbetts’ thriller RETREAT. As always, I rarely read synopses for the films playing the fest, I just pick a title and sit in the theater for some sort of a surprise. I wasn’t expecting where this film was going during the first act and quite honestly I still wasn’t sure where it was going halfway in and I mean that as an incredible compliment to the filmmakers. On that note, if you’re looking for a review that gives away practically any kind of spoiler or walks you through the film, this isn’t it.

Scanning the IMDB page of the film I see it’s got five out of 10 stars at the moment and that blows my mind. I’d toss eight or a seven easy, so fair warning I might be in some sort of a minority.

The film starts out with Martin [Cillian Murphy] and Kate [Thandie Newton] getting dropped off at a cabin on an island for time away from the city. As they walk to their cottage, we are treated with long shot after long shot displaying how incredibly beautiful this island is. Once they arrive at their cottage and get settled in, it quickly becomes obvious something’s up with the two and their retreat is a last ditch effort to possibly save their marriage. I say “obvious,” because not sharing a bed to sleep and having your wife confiding in her computer rather than in you, the husband, well that’s never a good sign. The beginning of the film reminds me of walking in on a couple after they’ve been screaming at each other.

Without giving much more of a play by play, an injured man [Jamie Bell] appears and the two take him in. He presents them with a problem and bam, the story kicks off and you are instantly tossed into a mindfuck of “Is this guy for real? No… Yeah, well maybe” and maintains that level of confusion until the very end. All of a sudden those beautiful long shots from earlier are replaced with tight, semi-claustrophobic mediums and close ups, like you’re slowly being choked, a sign of a damn good thriller, I think. The film is moody, tense, and gets your heart racing and your brain spinning.

To cut to the chase, RETREAT is a terrific film full of incredible performances tied together with damn good pacing and a thick atmosphere all pretty much set in the confines of a cottage. If you are at all a fan of films like BUG, THE TENANT, or ROSEMARY’S BABY, then this film is for you.

New British romantic comedy film First Night, starring Richard E Grant and Sarah Brightman, is a unique story of love's fluctuating fortunes set against a backdrop of visual and vocal beauty.

The new British film First Night manages to fuse the stately grandeur of Gosford Park with the magical music of Amadeus.

As the cast, the drama, and the music carefully walk a tightrope between humour and pathos a timeless romantic comedy unfolds.

Adam, (Richard E Grant), is a rich industrialist and frustrated opera singer aspiring to a more cultured world. Spurred on by playful jibes that he's just a City suit living a capitalist dream he decides to stage an opera in his lavish country retreat. He feels sure the shallow taunting will end once his friends see him in full voice.

In fact his singing might even help him win the hand of Celia (Sarah Brightman), the female conductor he's been pursuing, especially since she is the first to be recruited for his showpiece.

For the rest of the cast and the production Adam brings in the experts and enlists the aid of a troupe of sexy young singers with enough collective sexual tension to light up the stage.

His choice of opera? Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, the master composer's fabled romp through the bittersweet territory of sexual infidelity. And as this disparate group flexes their melodic and melodramatic muscles, it won't be long before life imitates art as relationships flourish and flounder.

Cosi Fan Tutte is Mozart's most popular opera. Although it has always been regarded as his most lyrical it has a cynical vein running through it which resonates with contemporary audiences. The story unfolds while rehearsals take place. As in the opera so it is in the film.

Mozart's music heightens a comedic drama as a classic tale of love and betrayal plays out.

The cast of First Night includes Sarah Brightman, Richard E Grant, Alfie Boe, Nigel Lindsay, Oliver Dimsale, Mia Maestro, Julian Ovenden and Susannah Fielding.