Alcon Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, CA, JUNE 13, 2012 -  Producing partners Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are coming on board to executive produce Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister's untitled directorial debut which Alcon entertainment is financing and producing, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

The screenplay, written by newcomer Jack Paglen for Pfister to direct, was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose Company principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. 

Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce along with Johnson and Kosove.  Boies will co-produce. The plot is being kept under wraps.

Principal photography is set to begin in the fall or early winter.

Pfister is an Oscar winning cinematographer (for INCEPTION) and is best known for his work on projects with Christopher Nolan. His collaboration with Nolan has spanned seven films, beginning in 1999 with MEMENTO, and earning him three Oscar nominations and one win.

Nolan and Thomas stated: 'We have been hoping to work with Wally as a director for a long time, and are thrilled to be working on such an original and exciting project alongside him and Alcon'.

While this is his first feature project, Pfister has been directing commercials for several years and gained notice for his powerful work on PSAs for "The Montana Meth Project" alongside the work of Directors Darren Aronofsky, Tony Kaye, and Alejandro Inarritu.

Pfister recently completed THE DARK KNIGHT RISES with Nolan and served as the cinematographer on last years best picture nominee, MONEYBALL. Other credits include THE ITALIAN JOB and LAUREL CANYON.

Kosove and Johnson added: "Chris and Emma, with whom we worked so closely on INSOMNIA, are supremely talented, as filmmakers, as collaborators, as storytellers, in all ways large and small, and we are delighted to be in business with them again."

ABOUT ALCON ENTERTAINMENT

Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEO's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded the Company in 1997 with financial backing from Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx. Alcon, which is named after a mythological archer and ally of Hercules, has financed, and/or co-financed/produced over 19 films, including "My Dog Skip," "Dude, Where's My Car?", "Insomnia," "Racing Stripes," the Academy Award nominated Best Picture "The Blind Side," which earned Sandra Bullock a Best Actress Oscar; "The Book of Eli," starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; "Insomnia," starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank and directed by Chris Nolan; "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," and "P.S. I Love You," starring Hilary Swank, among many others.

Alcon is currently in production on "Beautiful Creatures," based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson. Richard LaGravenese will direct from his adaptation of the novel, which is the first of a hugely popular series.

The Company recently released the box-office success "Dolphin Tale," a 3-D family film starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson, released via Alcon's output deal with Warner Bros.

STRAIGHT UP FILMS

Straight Up Films is a boutique development, production and financing company that produces innovative commercial content across multiple media platforms.  Up next is the untitled sci fi thriller to be directed by the Purchase Brothers and co-produced with Barry Josephson.