BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH’S IRONBARK ACQUIRED: The rights to Benedict Cumberbatch‘s civilian spy thriller Ironbark have been snagged by Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate. The deal was made at the Sundance Film Festival, after the world premiere Friday night and an enthusiastic response from attendees. In the film, Cumberbatch plays Greville Wynne, a regular guy tapped by the government to help end the Cuban missile crisis. Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) directs.
THE SEVENTH DAY ROUNDS OUT CAST: The Guy Pearce-toplined exorcist flick The Seventh Day has rounded out its cast. Joining Pearce and the previously announced Vadhir Derbez is Stephen Lang, Keith David, Chris Galust, Robin Bartlett and Brady Jenness.
UNCLE FRANK SNAGGED: Amazon scooped up Allan Ball‘s Uncle Frank at Sundance for $12 million. The bidding was reportedly competitive. Ball is best known for writing American Beauty and creating Six Feet Under and True Blood. The film stars Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Judy Greer and many others; the story follows Bettany’s titular character as he takes his 18-year-old niece (Lillis) on a road trip to bury his father.
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER DIRECTOR & STAR SET KILLING IT: How I Met Your Mother director Pamela Fryman and star Ashley Williams are teaming up with Margin Call producer Neal Dodson and Alan Grossbard on an adaptation of Killing It: An Education. Williams will star in the feature adaptation of Camas Davis’s best-selling memoir. The tale follows Davis’s journey from unemployed reporter to a butcher apprentice in France, then back to Portland, Oregon, where a food revolution is afoot.