Ritesh Batra nabbed attention at Cannes 2013 with his Critics’ Week drama “The Lunchbox,” released by Sony Pictures Classics in February 2014 and a 2015 BAFT nominee. Now the Indian director is returning to the Croisette with Cannes market title “The Sense of an Ending,” lifted from Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize-winning novel. Jim Broadbent is attached to star.
Penned by Nick Payne, whose Broadway play “Constellations” led by Jake Gyllenhaal got a Tony nomination, the film follows a retired man who receives an unexpected letter from a lawyer that forces him to confront his own past — and unfulfilling present — including the suicide of his childhood best friend. The film marks Payne’s first screenplay.
FilmNation, which has a spate of Cannes market titles this year including films from Tom Ford and Pedro Almodovar, holds worldwide rights and will co-finance with BBC Films. Origin Pictures’ David Thompson (“Woman in Gold”) and Ed Rubin are producers.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported this news.
READ MORE: “The Lunchbox” Review and Roundup
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