After making his last two movies for Netflix, Richard Linklater is heading back to movie theaters for his next project, and he’s also reuniting with one of his longtime collaborators for the first time in a decade: Ethan Hawke.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the rights to what will be Linklater’s next film, “Blue Moon,” the distributor announced Tuesday, June 18. Joining the project are Hawke, now working with Linklater for the ninth time, as well as Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and “Ripley” star Andrew Scott.
Principal photography on “Blue Moon” begins in Dublin, Ireland this summer with financing from Sony Pictures Classics and Renovo Media Group.
“Blue Moon” is about the final days of Lorenz Hart, who was half of the songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart. The film takes place largely in Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943 on the opening night of “Oklahoma!,” the first project Rodgers would do with Oscar Hammerstein II as Hart’s replacement. Hart often butted heads with Rodgers and struggled with alcoholism and depression throughout his life, and after calling “Oklahoma!” one of the greatest shows he’d ever seen, Hart died of pneumonia in November 1943.
The film is based on a screenplay by Robert Kaplow, author of the novel “Me and Orson Welles” that also later became a Linklater film.
Linklater will produce the film alongside Mike Blizzard, who produced Linklater’s most recent films, “Hit Man” and “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure,” and John Sloss.
The film will be a Detour/Renovo production in association with Wild Atlantic Pictures, Under The Influence and Cinetic Media. Additional EPs include Wild Atlantic’s Macdara Kelleher, Donna Eperon and John Keville, Renovo Media Group’s David Kingland, Lisa Crnic and Aaron Wiederspahn, and Cinetic’s Steven Farneth.
“Robert, Ethan, and I have been developing this story for over a decade and are excited and grateful that the time has come to bring this to life,” Linklater said in a statement.
“Almost a year ago, Rick, Ethan, and John reached out to us with Robert Kaplow’s amazing script ‘Blue Moon.’ Helping them over the following months to bring it together has been incredibly exciting and now, on the verge of production, with this fantastic cast and crew in place and Rick at the helm, we are thrilled to finally announce it and bring the film to audiences everywhere in the world,” Sony Pictures Classics said in a statement.
Linklater’s partnership with SPC goes all the way back to his debut “Slacker,” and they’ve also released “Suburbia” and “Before Midnight.”
Sony will release the film worldwide.
Deadline first reported the news.
