The Weinstein Company picks up U.S. rights to Wind River
The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that they acquired U.S. rights to the upcoming Wind River. The project is directed by Sicario screenwriter Taylor Sheridan and marks his directorial debut and stars two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (American Hustle, The Hurt Locker) along with Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers). They are joined by Jon Bernthal (Sicario), Graham Greene (Thunderheart), Julia Jones (Twilight) and Gil Birmingham (The Lone Ranger).
The film follows a rookie female FBI agent (Olsen) who teams up with a veteran, local game tracker with a haunted past (Renner) to investigates a murder on a remote Native American Reservation in the hopes of avenging the girl’s death.
The project is produced by Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road (Sicario, John Wick), Peter Berg’s Film 44 (Lone Survivor, Friday Night Lights), and Matthew George’s Savvy Media Holdings (LBJ). Savvy is financing along with Acacia Entertainment and Wayne Rogers’ Synergics Films. Star Thrower Entertainment is executive producing along with Riverstone Pictures and The Fyzz Facility. Insiders and Voltage are selling the film internationally and co-financed the film. CAA handled the domestic sale.
Sheridan’s writing credits include the upcoming Hell or High Water and last year’s critically-acclaimed Sicario, for which he received a WGA nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Commented TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein: “We’re thrilled to be working again with Jeremy Renner, who also produced our upcoming summer film ‘The Founder,’ and this time in front of the camera with Elizabeth and the entire cast on Taylor’s incredible directorial debut. From what I’ve seen from Taylor’s work, he’s one hell of a director.”
Commented producer Matthew George: “Taylor writes with brutal authenticity, and directed a great film. It was a pleasure to work with him, Basil and the rest of the team on this project. I couldn’t think of a better home for Wind River than the Weinsteins.”
The deal for the project was negotiated by David Glasser, James Allen, and James Gold for TWC with CAA.