No, in case you were wondering (or didn’t hear the news), Steven Soderbergh‘s forthcoming spy action/thriller “Haywire” did not receive an Oscar qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles in October. That was basically an AMC ticketing snafu, but the news did create a ruckus on the web for a minute.
Starring non-actor/mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano, “Haywire” is simply not that kind of picture. Sources close to the project have described it to us as “if Alfred Hitchock made a Pam Grier movie” and let’s not forget it will have a score by David Holmes who composed the funky, retro-exotica scores to Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s 11-13” films (you can almost count on the fact that Holmes will likely score the just-announced “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” as well) and the tone and mood of “Haywire” sounds like it was greatly affected by his score.
Featuring an all-star cast including Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Angarano, Matthieu Kassovitz and Antonio Banderas, the picture is a gritty spy thriller written by Lem Dobbs (“The Limey“) and starring Carano as a black ops soldier on mission of revenge after she’s double crossed by one of her team-mates (we read the script and it’s taut, lean and mean; typically no-nonsense work by Dobbs).
Last we heard, Relativity Media had essentially bought back “Haywire” from Lionsgate (Relativity Media financed it but Lionsgate had initially acquired it for North American release, Relativity also recently did the same with “Season of The Witch” — they bought it back) and we were told a late March/early April 2011 release was being planned, bumped off from the original idea of a January release.
That release date stuck. While no one is yet officially commenting on the Lionsgate/Relativity move (Overture who have now been absorbed into Relativity once denied it over Twitter), we’re told the film will be receiving an April 22, 2011 release date. That means the film will be up against Sony‘s “Born to Be a Star” remake, Warner Bros. “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and ironically, Lionsgate‘s own “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family.” It’s a smart move considering “Haywire” is essentially completely different from all those films and will target an entirely different demographic.
One of Anne Thompson‘s spies saw the film earlier this year and wrote her to say, “Haywire is pretty fine. Very much like John Huston in his ‘Kremlin Letter‘/’Mackintosh Man‘ period.” McGregor is playing in essence Erik Prince, added [her] informant, who also admired David Holmes’ “way cool” score.
Update/Correction: We’ve been told by sources that “Haywire” is a Lionsgate picture and that no release dated has officially been scheduled. Additionally, Overture was not absorbed nor is it otherwise connected to Relativity.
