In a highly competitive situation and bidding war, James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet’s “High Side” has landed at Paramount Pictures, reuniting the pair following their collaboration on the academy award-nominated, “A Complete Unknown,” the studio announced on Thursday.
Peter Chernin and David Ready are attached to produce on behalf of Chernin Entertainment alongside Mangold.
The project is based on an original, unpublished story by Jaime Oliveira, who is also adapting the screenplay. The official logline read: “Heat” meets “Hell or High Water,” a former MotoGP racer, haunted by a career-ending crash and a family legacy of abandonment, is drawn back into the world of high-speed risks and extreme danger, when his estranged brother, already being pursued by the FBI, recruits him for a series of bank robberies on superbikes.
“We’re thrilled to be in business with visionary artists like James and Timothée, and exceptional collaborators like Peter and David at Chernin,” Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, Co-Chairs of Paramount Pictures, said in a statement. “What Jaime has created reflects the kind of bold, original storytelling we’re committed to championing at Paramount – and we couldn’t be more excited to hit the ground running with ‘High Side.’”
Mangold added: “David, Dana, and Josh display a real commitment to original, story-driven filmmaking on the big screen and this passion made it easy for Timothée, Peter, and me to land on this project. Timothée is a trusted collaborator, a generational artist and a person I adore. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and work together again.”
The project reunites Chernin Entertainment with Mangold after the collaborations on “Ford vs Ferrari” and “The Greatest Showman.”
Chernin Entertainment was repped in this deal by WME, Ziffren Brittenham LLP, and Next Wave. Mangold is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Chalamet is repped by Brian Swardstrom, UTA, Gang Tyre Ramer Brown & Passman Inc and Relevant. Oliveira is repped by Sugar23 and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman.
