Hispano Fox picks up 'Dreammaker'

Source: Variety

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain --Hispano Fox Film has acquired Spanish theatrical and DVD distribution rights on Brazilian helmer Andrucha Waddington's swashbuckler "Dreammaker," one of Spain's most anticipated pics for next year.

Pic, which is set in 16th-century Spain, follows the early life of playwright Lope de Vega, emphasizing his love affairs and adventures.

It toplines Leonor Watling ("The Oxford Murders"), Pilar Lopez de Ayala ("Alatriste"), Luis Tosar ("Mr. Nice"), Sonia Braga ("An Invisible Sign of My Own") and Alberto Ammann, who plays Lope.

Budgeted at Euros13 million ($18.2 million), pic is a Brazilian-Spanish co-production between Conspiracao Filmes in Brazil, and Spain's Antena 3 Films, Ikiru and El Toro Films. Screenplay was penned by Ikiru's producer Jordi Gasull and Ignacio del Moral ("Mondays in the Sun").

Warner Bros. took Latin American rights to "Dreammaker" earlier this year.

Filming on "Dreammaker" ended in June after a nine-week shoot in Spain and Morocco. Now in post, pic will be ready for delivery early 2010.

"Waddington goes beyond the usual canons of Spanish period films," said Antena 3 Films CEO Mercedes Gamero at the San Sebastian Film Festival. "He brings a much more contemporary and modern vision that makes it attractive not only domestically but also internationally," she added.