Annapurna to produce the Jake Gyllenhaal western The Sisters Brothers
Annapurna Pictures will co-produce and co-finance award-winning filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers, it was announced today. The company also holds the domestic distribution rights for the film. Why Not Productions will co-produce and co-finance the film alongside Annapurna with Page 114 also on board as producers.
John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed are set to star in the noir Western, written by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain, with production scheduled to begin this summer.
The Sisters Brothers, based on Patrick deWitt’s acclaimed novel of the same name, follows two brothers — Eli and Charlie Sisters — who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. The story, a genre-hybrid with comedic elements, takes place in Oregon in 1851. The film is Audiard’s follow-up to his Palme d’Or winning Dheepan, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and will be his project first shot completely in English.
Reilly originally optioned the novel and will produce alongside Michael De Luca, Rosa Attrab and Alison Dickey. Annapurna’s Megan Ellison will serve as an executive producer for the project. The international rights are being handled by IMR International.