At least one high-profile TIFF title won’t be going to Netflix. “One Life,” the well-received and well-reviewed Anthony Hopkins vehicle has been acquired by Bleecker Street. The biopic, starring the two-time Oscar winner as the elder version Nicholas “Nicky” Winton, will get a domestic theatrical release in 2024. This would seemingly place it out of the current award-season race.
The James Hawes-directed film also stars Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter. Penned by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, the Saw-Saw Films and BBC Films production is based on Barbara Winton’s book “If It’s Not Impossible… The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton.”
The film features Flynn as a young Winton, a London broker who eventually convinces members of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue children in Prague as the Nazis close the borders in late 1938. Fifty years later, Winton remains haunted by the children he failed to safely bring to London. An episode of the BBC Show “That’s Life!” reintroduced him to some of the refugees he helped rescue. It also turned him into a well-known national hero.
“One Life” premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will play later this week at the BFI London Film Festival. It’s a BBC Film and BBK Productions presentation, in association with Cross City Films, FilmNation Entertainment, and Lipsync. Joanna Laurie, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Guy Heeley are producers. Simon Gillis, Eva Yates, Barbara Winton, Maria Logan, Anne Sheehan, Peter Hampden are the executive producers.
CAA Media Finance and Simon Gill brokered the deal for See-Saw and Cross City Films. Bleecker Street’s Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy negotiated for the distributor. FilmNation Entertainment will be handling international sales.
The deal is noteworthy in that it’s one of the few major TIFF titles that didn’t end up on Netflix. The streaming giant paid out big bucks for “Woman of the Hour,” “Hit Man,” “Four Daughters” and a handful of documentaries. As previously reported in TheWrap, Netflix made a show of force this festival season. They generous payouts to seemingly commercial titles. As such, “One Life” is an exception to the rule this season.
