Sony Pictures Classics has acquired up North American rights to director Roman Polanski’s French-language thriller “Based on a True Story,” the company announced Tuesday.
Emmanuelle Seigner stars as a Paris-based author with writer’s block who meets a mysterious woman at a book signing (Eva Green). The film, which recently wrapped production in France, is produced by Wassim Beji of WY Productions.
RatPac Entertainment will partner on distribution with Sony Classics, which last teamed with the Oscar-winning filmmaker on the English-language drama “Carnage” starring Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet.
Olivier Assayas and Polanski wrote the script, an adaptation of a novel by Delphine de Vigan.
“I am very pleased that Sony Pictures Classics will be distributing ‘Based On A True Story‘ in North America,” Polanski said in statement. “Sony Classics is a company that has long tradition in supporting European cinema. I am looking forward to working again with [co-presidents] Michael Barker and Tom Bernard.”
Sony Classics added: “‘Based on a True Story’ is the kind of thriller audiences are hungering for, as exceptional and fresh as ‘Repulsion’ and ‘The Tenant’ were in their day. Polanski’s new film promises to be his very best.”
Last month, Polanski withdrew as honorary president of France’s Cesar film awards following a petition drive against the appointment because of rape charges the director still faces in the U.S. for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1977.