The Berlin Film Festival is once again shaping up to be the go-to event to sell your high-profile project to distributors. Oh yeah, and to watch some quality films. But as we reported yesterday, there’s plenty of big name projects that are being put together that need distribution. And one of those is the upcoming film “The Friend,” which is set to have a great cast and an award-winning filmmaker.
“The Friend” is set to star Dakota Johnson, Jason Segel, and Casey Affleck. The film follows the true story of Matthew and Nicole Teague, played by Affleck and Johnson, respectively, who are dealing with the news that Nicole only has six months to live after a terminal cancer diagnosis. After learning the news, the couple’s best friend (Segel) moves into their home and puts his life on hold to help them in any way possible.
“The Friend” is based on an Esquire article of the same name and will be adapted by Brad Ingelsby, who just recently signed on to develop a new HBO series with Kate Winslet. The film comes from the award-winning filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who is probably best known for her documentary “Blackfish,” but has already stepped into the world of narrative feature filmmaking with the recent “Megan Leavey.”
Matthew Teague said he’s “thrilled and honored to see the story come to life this way, thanks to the filmmaking vision of Gabriela Cowperthwaite and a script that Brad Ingelsby and I worked on closely together. It captures what’s at the heart of the story: deep love and loss, and the saving grace of friendship. To have the talents of Dakota Johnson, Jason Segel and Casey Affleck help the story live on is remarkable. And I’m grateful to Scott Free and Black Bear, who have been both passionate and sensitive from day one. I hope the story gives people an honest glimpse of what it means to face mortality, and the value of having a true friend at your side, when that moment comes.”
As mentioned, the film is looking for a distributor at the upcoming film festival, but will be going into production next month.