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TODD SOLONDZ RIDES A “DARK HORSE”

In a press release today Ted Hope announced that Todd Solondz’s new film, Dark Horse, went into production on October 11. Hope is producing through his new Double Hope production company, and the cast includes Justin Bartha, Selma Blair, Mia Farrow, Jordan Gelber, Donna Murphy and Christopher Walken. Andrij Parekh (Blue Valentine) is shooting, Derrick Tseng is co-producing, and Goldcrest is handling international sales.

From the press release:

Mr. Solondz helms the tale of Abe (Jordan Gelber), a 30-something who lives with his parents, reluctantly works for his father (Christopher Walken), and avidly collects toys. When Abe isn’t playing backgammon with his mother (Mia Farrow), he’s trying to romance Miranda (Selma Blair), another 30-something who has moved back in with her parents after her literary/academic career crashed. Out of desperation, Miranda agrees to marry Abe, and the two begin to plan their life together. But, just when it looks like things are starting to go right for Abe, everything goes horribly wrong.

Mr. Solondz exclaimed: “I am so lucky and grateful to have financing, and such a wonderful cast and crew, and on top of that to be reunited with producers Ted Hope and Derrick Tseng.”

“We would drop whatever we were doing to get a chance to collaborate with Todd again. He is one of a kind and always delivers both a unique film and a fun shoot,” said Mr. Hope & Mr. Tseng.

Over at The Playlist, Solondz talked about the film back in July.

“Well, it doesn’t have any reoccurring or pre-existing characters. They’re all different,” Solondz said referring to the way Life During Wartime revisits characters that have already appeared in the cinematic Todd Solondz milieu. “And you know CAA? [The L.A. talent agency]. It’s funny, it’s the first time they actually like one of my scripts and I realized [in Dark Horse], there’s no rape, there’s no child molestation, there’s no masturbation, and then I thought, ‘omg, why didn’t I think of this years ago?'” he half-joked, referencing the difficulty he had in getting Wartime made.

At Ted Hope’s Truly Free Film blog, he posts the complete press release, prefacing it with this: “Ah, every movie has a good story behind it… But for now I can only provide you our official release.” Notably, there’s no financing company mentioned in the release, so I’m eager to hear the rest of this Dark Horse story…

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