Heisenberg
I Am The Danger
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Dustin Hoffman Joins Paul Giamatti's "Version"
Dustin Hoffman will topline opposite Paul Giamatti in indie drama "Barney's Version," based on Mordecai Richler's final novel, with Robert Lantos ("Adoration") producing through his Serendipity Point banner.
Richard J. Lewis will direct from the adaptation by Michael Konyves. Principal photography will begin Aug. 17 in Rome.
Hoffman, who most recently starred in "Last Chance Harvey," will play a retired cop and father of the story's title character -- who has led a reckless life highlighted by three marriages, two children and status as a "person of interest" in the mysterious disappearance of his friend.
"Barney's Version" is produced by Serendipity Point in association with Italy's Fandango and Montreal's Lyla Films. Co-producers are Domenico Procacci ("Gomorrah"), Lyse Lafontaine and Ari Lantos, with Mark Musselman exec producing; investors include Astral Media, Corus Entertainment, Telefilm Canada, Sodec, HGF, OMDC and CBC.
Two of Richler's novels have been adapted into features -- "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" and "Joshua Then and Now," which Lantos produced. Lantos' credits include "Eastern Promises," "Being Julia," "Sunshine" and "The Sweet Hereafter."
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Two of my favorite actors, and having just read the book's synopsis this could be really great. Here it is for anyone who wants to know more about the story...
Dustin Hoffman will topline opposite Paul Giamatti in indie drama "Barney's Version," based on Mordecai Richler's final novel, with Robert Lantos ("Adoration") producing through his Serendipity Point banner.
Richard J. Lewis will direct from the adaptation by Michael Konyves. Principal photography will begin Aug. 17 in Rome.
Hoffman, who most recently starred in "Last Chance Harvey," will play a retired cop and father of the story's title character -- who has led a reckless life highlighted by three marriages, two children and status as a "person of interest" in the mysterious disappearance of his friend.
"Barney's Version" is produced by Serendipity Point in association with Italy's Fandango and Montreal's Lyla Films. Co-producers are Domenico Procacci ("Gomorrah"), Lyse Lafontaine and Ari Lantos, with Mark Musselman exec producing; investors include Astral Media, Corus Entertainment, Telefilm Canada, Sodec, HGF, OMDC and CBC.
Two of Richler's novels have been adapted into features -- "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" and "Joshua Then and Now," which Lantos produced. Lantos' credits include "Eastern Promises," "Being Julia," "Sunshine" and "The Sweet Hereafter."
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Two of my favorite actors, and having just read the book's synopsis this could be really great. Here it is for anyone who wants to know more about the story...
Barney Panofsky--like so many of Richlers protagonists (and like Richler himself, one suspects)--is a hard-drinking, hard-smoking, foul-mouthed, hedonistic writer and producer. He has many sexual exploits in his past and loads of self doubt in his present, together with digitalis and dentures.
But there was only one true love in his life, although he has had three wives: Clara a mysterious artist-poetess whose suicide in Paris helped to establish his fame; "the second Mrs. Panofsky" whom he loathed for all of their short time together; and Miriam, mother of his three children and his partner for decades, until Barney blows it with presumptuous inattention culminating in a vain indiscretion, and she leaves.
Since the end of his second marriage, Barney has lived under the shadow of the unproven accusation of having murdered his best friend, Bernard "Boogie" Moscovitch. Supposedly, he committed the crime in a drunken rage provoked by his discovery of Boogie in flagrante with "the second Mrs Panofsky." Barney may have been drunk, but he didnt do it. At least, he doesnt remember doing it.
Barneys "version" is an autobiographical account written in old age, and annotated with footnotes by his priggish and obsessive son. It is Barneys side of the murder and his life, and it leads up to and devolves from that fateful evening when, far from being angry, he felt joy in a bedroom scene that would be his ticket to live with Miriam.
He recalls drinking with Boogie and their going for a swim. But he alone still expects to see Boogie stride through the door. Everyone else, including his children, believe that he was the killer, spared imprisonment because Boogies body was never found. The weight of Barneys guilt waxes and wanes.
But remembering anything is increasingly difficult for Barney. He fears dementia. As its specter looms over his memories, it raises doubt about the veracity of his "version."
But there was only one true love in his life, although he has had three wives: Clara a mysterious artist-poetess whose suicide in Paris helped to establish his fame; "the second Mrs. Panofsky" whom he loathed for all of their short time together; and Miriam, mother of his three children and his partner for decades, until Barney blows it with presumptuous inattention culminating in a vain indiscretion, and she leaves.
Since the end of his second marriage, Barney has lived under the shadow of the unproven accusation of having murdered his best friend, Bernard "Boogie" Moscovitch. Supposedly, he committed the crime in a drunken rage provoked by his discovery of Boogie in flagrante with "the second Mrs Panofsky." Barney may have been drunk, but he didnt do it. At least, he doesnt remember doing it.
Barneys "version" is an autobiographical account written in old age, and annotated with footnotes by his priggish and obsessive son. It is Barneys side of the murder and his life, and it leads up to and devolves from that fateful evening when, far from being angry, he felt joy in a bedroom scene that would be his ticket to live with Miriam.
He recalls drinking with Boogie and their going for a swim. But he alone still expects to see Boogie stride through the door. Everyone else, including his children, believe that he was the killer, spared imprisonment because Boogies body was never found. The weight of Barneys guilt waxes and wanes.
But remembering anything is increasingly difficult for Barney. He fears dementia. As its specter looms over his memories, it raises doubt about the veracity of his "version."
