Exclusive
The movie deals are starting to come fast and furious in and around the Cannes festival, significantly many of them outside the festival.
On the heels of FilmDistrict's purchase of the sci-fi "Looper" comes news that Relativity is close to a deal to buy John Hillcoat's "The Wettest County in the World."
The studio is expected to pay around $4 million for U.S. distribution rights, according to one individual involved in the deal.
Update: But another individual involved in the negotiation said Relativity was ardently pursuing, but other studios including The Weinstein Company and CBS Films were still aggressively in the mix.
The issue holding up the Relativity deal was the director's insistence on final cut; one person said the deal could fall apart over this issue. Clearly this one is still wet cement, and we promise to update you as soon as the smoke clears.
Second update: Another individual involved in the negotiation said it was unlikely to close for several days, and that it was still unclear who would claim the film.
Like "Looper," the film is in post-production.
"County" is a crime-drama centered on a family of Depression-era bootleggers in the American South starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman. Hillcoat, who last did "The Road," directed from a script by Nick Cave, based on a novel by Matt Bondurant.
