AFM – November 7, 2019 – Los Angeles based production company Magic City Films has obtained the rights from the family of James Dean to cast James Dean posthumously in the secondary lead role in the Vietnam era action-drama “Finding Jack.” Helming the project are creative disruptors Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh. Donald A. Barton of Artistry Media Group is producing alongside Ernst and Golykh of Magic City Films. Multiple Oscar-nominated songwriter Diane Warren wrote the key song for the film and acclaimed composer Laurent Eyquem is on-board to score the film. Casting is underway. Pre-production starts on November 17th with a goal for a worldwide release on Veterans Day 2020. Magic City Films is handling foreign sales.
The film is adapted by Mari Sova from the novel Finding Jack by internationally acclaimed writer Gareth Crocker. Based on the actual existence and abandonment of over 10,000 canine units at the end of the Vietnam War, “Finding Jack” is a film of friendship and love under desperate circumstances that will grab your heart and won’t let go.
Canadian VFX powerhouse Imagine Engine will be working alongside South African VFX company MOI Worldwide to recreate a realistic version of James Dean. Geoff Anderson from Imagine Engine will be overseeing the VFX supervision relating to the James Dean recreation.
The film is the first feature film from Magic City Films’ development slate. Recently formed by partners Golykh and Ernst, Magic City plans to develop three films per year.
Mark Roesler, CEO of CMG Worldwide (www.CMGworldwide.com), the business agent for the family of James Dean said, “With the rapidly evolving technology, we see this as a whole new frontier for many of our iconic clients. CMG is in its 4th decade of representing over 1,700 iconic entertainment, sports, music & historical personalities, recently acquired an extended reality company Worldwide XR (www.WorldwideXR.com) which according to Roesler, “This opens up a whole new opportunity for many of our clients who are no longer with us.”
Film Producer (“Little One,” “Momentum”) and co-director Anton Ernst says, “We searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extremely complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean. We feel very honored that his family supports us and will take every precaution to ensure that his legacy as one of the most epic film stars to date is kept firmly intact. The family views this as his fourth movie, a movie he never got to make. We do not intend to let his fans down.” Ernst continues, “Our partners in South Africa are very excited about this, as this technology would also be employed down the line to recreate historical icons such as Nelson Mandela to tell stories of cultural heritage significance.”
Barton added, “Now that we have closed with this iconic figure, we look forward to rapidly closing our remaining actors.”
