From: Coming Soon!Fox Searchlight Acquires Thank You for Smoking
Fox Searchlight Pictures president Peter Rice today announced that the company has acquired all available
worldwide rights to Thank You for Smoking, Jason Reitman's feature debut, from David O. Sacks' Room 9
Entertainment. The film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday,
September 9, is a fiercely satirical look at today's "culture of spin" based on Christopher Buckley's acclaimed
1994 novel of the same title and adapted for the screen by Reitman. Thank You for Smoking stars Aaron
Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe,
William H. Macy, JK Simmons and Robert Duvall. The film was produced by David O. Sacks, with
ContentFilm's Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt and Alessandro Camon serving as executive producers,
along with Michael Beugg.
The rights Fox Searchlight acquired exclude those that previously went to the IndieCircle distribution group
for Italy, France, Benelux and Switzerland, as well as Scandinavia's ScanBox. These territories were pre-
sold by Content Film International, Room 9 Entertainment's production partner on Thank You for Smoking.
In a role Aaron Eckhart seems born to play, the hero of Thank You for Smoking is Nick Naylor, chief
spokesman for Big Tobacco, who makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in
today's neo-puritanical culture. Confronted by health zealots out to ban tobacco and an opportunistic senator
(Macy) who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the
dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and enlisting a Hollywood super-agent (Rob Lowe) to promote
smoking in movies. Nick's newfound notoriety attracts the attention of both tobacco's head honcho (Duvall)
and an investigative reporter for an influential Washington daily (Holmes). Nick says he is just doing what it
takes to pay the mortgage, but he begins to think about how his work makes him look in the eyes of his
young son Joey (Bright).
Fox Searchlight Vice President of Production Lawrence Grey was instrumental in bringing the film to the
studio. The Fox Searchlight deal was brokered by Executive Vice President Joseph De Marco and Senior
Vice President of Acquisitions Tony Safford. Cassian Elwes of WMA Independent and attorney David J.
Bloomfield represented Sacks and Room 9 Entertainment in the negotiations.
Said Fox Searchlight Pictures President Peter Rice: "Razor-sharp comedy doesn't come around often. Jason
Reitman and his wonderful ensemble cast, led by Aaron Eckhart, have created an incredibly funny, very
smart, sharply directed adaptation of Chris Buckley's beloved novel. The audience response here in Toronto
has been amazing and we are thrilled that David Sacks and Jason have chosen us as partners to distribute
the movie."
Said Writer/Director Jason Reitman: "Fox Searchlight will be a fantastic distributor for 'Smoking' and I
couldn't be happier that we were able to make a deal with them."
Said Producer David O. Sacks: "We're incredibly proud that 'Smoking' is our debut film and we're thrilled to
be partners with Fox Searchlight. Jason, the cast and crew did an amazing job bringing the film to the screen
and our experience at Toronto has been a dream come true."
While Thank You for Smoking marks his feature debut, Reitman is an accomplished director of such award
winning shorts as In God We Trust and Gulp, which have played in over a hundred film festivals worldwide
including Toronto, Sundance and New Directors / New Films at MoMA. In early 2000, Reitman signed with
the commercial production company, Tate and Partners. In the five years since he began directing television
advertising, he has received honors from the Cannes commercial awards, the Addys, as well as the highly
coveted One Show.
Fox Searchlight plans to release Thank You for Smoking next year.
More Links:
Businesswire
Variety
Boston.com
Please consider the source (as always)!
Link: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes to marry on Christmas Day
Thanks to Liana for the help!
New TYFS Review!
Click Here
Talking about Thank You For Smoking…
You may want to check this link where you will find Jason Reitman’s blog (the director of TYFS).
No mention of Katie there yet (so far it's mostly about the Toronto fest).
