Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert Fashion Drama ‘Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris’ Acquired by Focus
Focus Features has acquired the worldwide rights to “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” a period drama starring Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert that emerged at this year’s European Film Market.
Anthony Fabian (“Skin,” “Good Hope”) is directing the film that is based on a novella by Paul Gallico. Jason Isaacs, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo and Rose Williams also star in the film, which Focus Features will release domestically while Universal Pictures International handles overseas distribution.
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” was made in partnership with the fashion group the House of Dior, and it tells the story of a widowed cleaning lady in 1950s London who falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress and decides that she must have one of her own. After she works, starves and gambles to raise the funds to pursue her dream, she embarks on an adventure to Paris which will change not only her own outlook, but the very future of the House of Dior.
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Fabian also wrote the screenplay along with Carroll Cartwright, Keith Thompson, and Olivia Hetreed. Fabian is also a producer along with Xavier Marchand and Guillaume Benski.
“Anthony transports the audience to the nostalgia and glamour of 1950s London and Paris, and the timeless fantasy of Dior haute couture, offering both Mrs. Harris and us a welcome escape from our day-to-day lives,” Focus president of production and acquisitions Kiska Higgs said in a statement. “We are overjoyed to collaborate again with the brilliant Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert, who fill the screen with poignance and verve.”
eOne financed the project with support from the National Film Institute of Hungary. Sierra/Affinity, UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance negotiated the sale as part of the Virtual Berlin market.
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Fabian is represented by UTA, Ensemble Entertainment, and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. Manville is represented by Artist Rights Group. Huppert is represented by CAA and UBBA. Isaacs is represented by Silver Lining Entertainment. Wilson is represented by Agence Adequat, Reacting Talent, and Soli e Associati. Baptista is represented by UTA, Subtitle Talent, Elite Lisbon and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson. Bravo is represented by Definition Entertainment and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman. Williams is repped by UTA, A&J Artists, and Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver Thompson.
Deadline first reported the news.
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