The fall festivals may be in the rearview, but there is still plenty of wheeling and dealing to be done. The latest: Bleecker Street announced Monday it has picked up the U.S. rights for David Mackenzie’s sharp and very entertaining TIFF premiere, “Relay.”
Starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and Sam Worthington, the “high-concept contemporary thriller” is a throwback to clever, classy films of yore (or, like, the early ’90s). Even better: the distributor is planning a 2025 theatrical release for the film. Bleecker has purchased two fall premieres that did well on the fest circuit and beyond, with “Relay” joining Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s “The Friend” as a recent purchase.
Per Bleecker, the film follows Riz Ahmed as “a world class ‘fixer’ who specializes in brokering lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. But when a message arrives one day from a potential client (Lily James), needing his protection just to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change.”
Before its TIFF premiere, Mackenzie, Ahmed, and James unpacked its many charms to IndieWire for their first interview about the project. All of them hailed the fun of watching the story unfold in a packed theater (this writer can vouch for that) and expressed their hope for a theatrical release.
“I would love it to [get a theatrical release], because I love the idea of that joint experience of feeling it,” Mackenzie told IndieWire in September. “I know that we’re looking for a home for it, and as much as I had a great time with a streamer on my last movie [Netflix’s ‘The Outlaw King’], the lack of theatrical was a shame, particularly because you want to make things for that experience. But I fully accept that there’s multiple ways of watching movies, I’ve watched plenty of them on my computer and all that.”
Added James, “Of course, I want it in the cinema. It’s made to be on a big screen. Watching a movie collectively, especially when it’s a thriller, if you can feel the audience hold their breath, if you can feel the audience like gasp when they’re surprised at certain twists and turns in this story, it just adds the tension and the drama.”
Black Bear fully financed “Relay” and produced alongside Thunder Road Pictures and Sigma Films. Producers include Basil Iwanyk for Thunder Road, Gillian Berrie for Sigma, Teddy Schwarzman for Black Bear, and MacKenzie. Executive producers are Black Bear’s Michael Heimler and John Friedberg, and Thunder Road’s Erica Lee and Charlie Morrison.
Up next for Bleecker Street is “The Return” starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” both of which open in theaters on December 6.
The deal was negotiated by Bleecker Street’s Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy with UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers. Black Bear represents the international rights to the film.
