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The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Netflix has acquired Anna Kendrick’s first directorial effort, Woman of the Hour, for about $11 million following its well-loved global premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Here’s what we know:
Anna Kendrick’s ‘Woman of the Hour’ picked up by Netflix
The real-life thriller has been acquired by the streaming service, as well as the remaining worldwide rights. Kendrick and AGC Studio’s CEO Stuart Ford, who are producing and entirely financing the picture, first suggested it at TIFF a year ago. CAA Media Finance handled US sales on the project, which is based on Ian MacDonald’s script The Black List, and is said to have gotten many offers for the thriller. Woman of the Hour has also been acquired by Netflix in France, Italy, Benelux, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and a number of other overseas regions.
What is Anna Kendrick’s ‘Woman of the Hour’ about?
In addition to producing and directing Woman of the Hour, Kendrick stars as Cheryl Bradshaw, a bachelorette on the hit 1970s TV dating show The Dating Game, in the strange-than-fiction true story. Apparently, the fairy-tale date takes a terrible turn when the bachelor, Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), peels back his lovely façade to reveal the truth: he is a deranged serial killer on the run.
Kendrick’s character is a struggling actress who chooses to appear on the TV show only to have a run-in with Alcala. The film was shot in Vancouver and premiered in Toronto without a U.S. distribution contract on Friday at the Princess of Wales Theatre, a favored destination for acquisition movies. Tony Hale and Nicolette Robinson also appear in the project while Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, among others, share the producer credits.