IFC Entertainment is set to launch about 5 new features withing the $4- to $10-million range, with You Kill Me to be the first out of the gate, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The studio has bought the North American rights to John Dahl's darkly comic tale of an alcoholic hit man, played by Ben Kingsley, who goes to California for a little rest and relaxation from his profession. There, he gets a job as a mortician, where he meets and becomes romantically involved with the daughter of one of the corpses he is embalming, played by Tea Leoni. Ahem... that's the daughter, not the corpse.
Kinglsey's character makes a friend, played by Luke Wilson, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and soon finds himself wrapped up in his old job again.
I'm sure this is a role that Kingsley will throw himself into with gusto (Bloodrayne, anyone?). If you only think of Kingsley as the pacifist Ghandi, or the meek Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List, then you obviously never saw him as the insanely brutal Don Logan in Sexy Beast. This is the perfect role for him, I just know it.
And so does IFC president Jonathan Sehring. "This acquisition signifies an aggressive new direction for IFC Films," he said. "IFC Films is (now) in the position to acquire and release movies of a much larger scale. 'You Kill Me' is hugely appealing and exactly what we've been looking for over the past several months to launch us in this new direction."
Sounds good to me! Can't wait!
