Red Sonja: the ultimate Sword Hottie?

[GeneChing]

AFM: Veronica Ferres Joins the Cast of ‘Red Sonja’ (Exclusive)
The German star will play the mother of Matilda Lutz’s lead character Red Sonja in the new reboot of the 1980s sword-and-sorcery actioner.

BY SCOTT ROXBOROUGH

NOVEMBER 2, 2022 8:00AM

Veronica Ferres @TOM-WAGNER

German star Veronica Ferres (Rossini, Crisis, Salt & Fire) has joined the cast of sword and sorcery reboot Red Sonja.

Ferres will play the mother of Red Sonja and the Goddess Ashera in the new film, which is being pitched as more an adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s original Marvel comic than a reboot of the 1985 feature starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The 80s film was a notorious flop. Producers Millennium Media are also handling international sales.

Italian-American actress Matilda Lutz (Revenge) is playing Red Sonja. Wallis Day, Robert Sheehan, Michael Bisping, Martyn Ford, Eliza Matengu, Manal El-Feitury and Katrina Durden co-star.

M.J. Bassett (Rouge, Silent Hill: Revelation) is directing, taking over from Joey Soloway, who is still attached as an executive producer on the project. Red Sonja is currently shooting at Millennium’s Nu Boyana studios in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Ferres is one of Germany’s most recognisable stars, both in film —in the Oscar-nominated Schtonk! (1992) and local box-office hit Rossini (1997)—and in numerous series and TV movies. Recent work includes roles in Nicholas Jarecki’s Crisis (2021), alongside Gary Oldman and in Werner Herzog’s Salt & Fire (2016) with Michael Shannon and Gael García Bernal, both of which Ferres also co-produced through her Munich-based Construction Film.

Ferres is repped by CAA, Thruline Entertainment, Fischer & Partner and by The Artists Partnership.

This story first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s Nov. 2 daily issue at the American Film Market.

Someday I should split this into its own indie thread (for the film)

[GeneChing]

AFM: ‘Red Sonja’ Producer Millennium Inks Movie Slate Deal With Will Smith’s German Distribution Company
Telepool, which is owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook shingle, will co-develop at least three English-language films with Millennium.


BY SCOTT ROXBOROUGH

NOVEMBER 1, 2022 9:24AM

'Red Sonja' COURTESY OF MILLENNIUM MEDIA

Millennium Media, producer of the upcoming Red Sonja fantasy actioner and such franchises as The Expendables, Has Fallen and The Hitman’s Bodyguard, has signed a three-year movie slate deal with Telepool, the German film and TV distributor owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc.

Under the agreement, which was announced at AFM Tuesday, Telepool and Millennium will co-develop three English-language features over the next three years, with Millennium producing and Telepool acting as an executive producer. Telepool with have the exclusive first look for all rights in German-speaking territories for the resulting films.

Telepool pre-bought Millennium’s Red Sonja, a reboot of Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery Marvel comic, for German territories, and will bow Millennium’s Antonio Banderas-starrer The Enforcer in Germany this December. The Munich-based group has also handled Gerard Butler’s Has Fallen films and The Hitman’s Bodyguard movies starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek for Millennium in the region.

The Telepool deal is a first of its kind for Millennium, who have not previously collaborated with an international distributor so soon in the development process. The pact allows for Westbrook and Millennium to extend the deal past the initial three movies if both parties agree.

Millennium Media CEO Jeffrey Greenstein and Michael Muellner of Telepool negotiated the deal.

“Everyone is looking for ways to grow our existing relationship,” Millennium CEO Jeffrey Greenstein told The Hollywood Reporter. “Telepool and Westbrook have a big appetite for content, as do many of our partners, and we are always looking for more material and more IP. This opens doors to source material and IP from new channels. It’s a win-win.”

Westbrook, previously an equity investor in Telepool, took full control of the company via its Westbrook International Holdings earlier this year.

Deadline was the first to report the Telepool-Millennium deal.

I can see Germany being into Sonja...