Roadside Attractions and Vertical have found a nice place on the wall for “The Gallerist.”
The companies have jointly acquired U.S. distribution rights to the crime comedy, which premiered this past January at the Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Cathy Yan and starring Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega, “The Gallerist” will be released theatrically on Dec. 4.
The film, which also stars Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Sterling K. Brown, Zach Galifianakis, Daniel Brühl, Charli XCX and Catherine Zeta-Jones, is set against Art Basel Miami and follows “an ambitious gallery owner (Portman) clinging to the edge of elite society and desperate to prove herself on the heels of a nasty separation, facing mounting financial hardship. What begins as an impromptu act of survival—when she conspires to pass off an accidental corpse as the centerpiece of her debut show—spirals into a sly game of deception, spectacle, and ticking-clock chaos as influencers and police converge,” according to the official synopsis.
“The Gallerist” was written by James Pedersen and produced by Portman, Ash Sarohia, Sophie Mas, Jonathan King, Tom McCarthy, Rae Baron and Zola Elgart Glassman.
MRC is the studio behind the film.
“Cathy Yan’s wildly original film was a winner for us at Sundance; she assembled a phenomenal ensemble cast led by Natalie Portman’s standout performance as a woman at the intersection of art and crime, revealing a dazzling comic edge along the way. It’s as fun as it is terrifying,” said Roadside Attractions Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff and Vertical CEO and Partner Peter Jarowey in an official statement.
“The Gallerist” is Yan’s long-awaited follow-up to 2020’s “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” which she directed for DC and Warner Bros. She returned to her roots with “The Gallerist,” which, like her debut “Dead Pigs,” is an indie that had a splashy debut at Sundance. The movie was well-received at Sundance, with our own reviewer, Matt Donato, drawing comparisons to Roger Corman’s “A Bucket of Blood” and saying that Yan and co-screenwriter Pedersen “question the ethics of egotistical fame-seekers who anoint themselves lawless mavericks of cultured taste. Success at any cost — even morality.”
The deal was negotiated by Cohen for Roadside Attractions and Jarowey and SVP of Acquisitions Tony Piantedosi on behalf of Vertical.
“The Gallerist” hits theaters Dec. 4.
