The Orchard Snags “The Hero”
Jan 22, 2017
Park City, UT – January 22, 2017 – The Orchard announced tonight that the company has acquired all North American distribution rights to Brett Haley’s drama The Hero starring Sam Elliott. The film, which premiered Saturday in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, also stars Laura Prepon, Nick Offerman, Krysten Ritter and Katharine Ross. Written by Haley (I’ll See You In My Dreams) and Mark Basch, the film was produced by Houston King, Sam Bisbee and Erik Rommesmo. The production companies are Northern Lights Films, Park Pictures and Houston King Productions. The Orchard plans a wide release for the film this fall.
In The Hero, Sam Elliott plays Lee Hayden, an aging Western film star forced to face his own mortality as he confronts a cancer diagnosis.
The deal was negotiated by Danielle DiGiacomo, vice president of acquisitions for The Orchard with WME and Gersh on behalf of the filmmakers. This is the second acquisition of the festival for The Orchard, who announced a deal on Friday for all North American rights to Trophy (CNN is handling broadcast).
About The Orchard
The Orchard is a pioneering independent film, TV and music distribution company that operates in over 25 global markets. The company, founded as a music distributor in 1997, is a groundbreaking leader in the film and television distribution space, known for its innovative technology that provides filmmakers with up-to-the minute trending data and analytics on their projects. The Orchard’s film division has enjoyed such recent successes as the Academy Award-nominated documentary Cartel Land, Taika Waititi’s The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Roger Ross Williams’ Life, Animated, Academy Award-winner Morgan Neville’s The Music of Strangers, Alex Lehmann’s Blue Jay and Antonio Campos’ Christine. The company is currently in theaters with Pablo Larrain’s critically acclaimed, Golden Globe-nominated Neruda and will soon release Oren Moverman’s anticipated film The Dinner.