M8 Entertainment, Inc. (TSX: MEE.A and MEE.B), a leading film entertainment company, announced that principal photography has recently begun on its new feature film project, Man About Town, a dramatic comedy set in the fast-paced, high stakes world of Hollywood power players. Written and directed by Mike Binder, who most recently directed M8's The Upside of Anger (which will be released in the US through New Line Cinema), Man About Town stars Academy Award winner Ben Affleck (Pearl Harbor, Good Will Hunting) leading actress/model Rebecca Romijn (X Men, X2), and veteran comedic actor John Cleese (Harry Potter franchise, A Fish Called Wanda). Rounding out the film's talented cast are Gina Gershon (The Insider, Face/Off), Bai Ling (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), Amber Valetta (What Lies Beneath), Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle), Howard Hesseman (About Schmidt), Adam Goldberg (A Beautiful Mind), Jerry O'Connell (Kangaroo Jack), and Damien Wayans (Malibu's Most Wanted).
“We are very excited to begin filming on this project, and we are looking forward to working with Mike Binder again and continuing to develop what has been a very successful partnership thus far,” stated Sammy Lee, Vice Chairman of the Board for M8 Entertainment and a producer on the film. “It's a testament to this script and to Mike's skill as a comedic director that we've been able to attract such a talented and exciting cast for the project,” further added Lee.
Man About Town tells the story of top Hollywood talent agent Jack Giamoro (Ben Affleck), who seems to have it all – until his perfect world starts to unravel when he learns that his wife Nina (Rebecca Romijn) is cheating on him, and that ambitious journalist Barbi Ling (Bai Ling) is out to destroy him. The film is being produced by Jack Binder, Michael Rotenberg, and M8's Sammy Lee. Principal photography will take place in Vancouver, Canada, and Los Angeles, CA.
Following the recent success of its Academy Award winning film Monster, M8 Entertainment is actively pursuing its strategy of producing, financing and distributing high profile, commercially-driven films. Post-production is underway on M8's Running Scared, an exciting big-budget action/drama starring Paul Walker, which is writer-director Wayne Kramer's follow up to his critically acclaimed film The Cooler. Post-production is also underway on M8's Lovewrecked, a charming teen comedy starring Amanda Bynes (What a Girl Wants), Chris Carmack (Fox's “The O.C.”), Jamie-Lynn DiScala (“The Sopranos”), and Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls), and directed by Randal Kleiser (Grease and Honey I Blew Up the Kid). Also in post-production is Santa's Slay, an action infused horror-comedy that M8 is co-producing along with Brett Ratner (director of mega-box office hits Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2, and Red Dragon), and featuring WWE wrestling star Goldberg as the comedically devilish Santa Claus. M8 also recently announced its newest project, Reaper, a stylish supernatural thriller which is set to begin production in early 2005.
M8 Entertainment's upcoming slate of theatrical releases includes the Mike Binder-directed The Upside of Anger, a bittersweet comedy slated to be released in the US through New Line Cinema, which stars three-time Academy Award nominee Joan Allen, two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, and Alicia Witt. Also nearing completion in post-production is Havoc, Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan's searing story of teen culture as it clashes with the real world of urban Latino gangsters, directed by two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple, and starring leading young star Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries 2, Ella Enchanted) and Bijou Phillips (Door in the Floor, Bully). |
