David Kaplan, producer of Beth de Araújo’s Sundance breakout Josephine, has praised the commitment of Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan to the indie project.
Tatum (Roofman) and Chan (Crazy Rich Asians) co-star as the parents of the eight-year-old protagonist Josephine, whose life is upended when she witnesses a violent sexual assault at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, played by big screen debutant Mason Reeves.
In Berlin for the international premiere of the film in competition following its Grand Jury and Audience Award prizes in Sundance , Kaplan told an EFM Conference panel, thatTatum and Chan had taken producer credits on the film for entirely “worthy reasons”.
“Gemma’s involvement in this film dates back very many years. She stood by it when it was happening before and it fell apart, and she stood by it, when it was time to make the movie. She made the time and was so deeply committed to the character she played,” he said.
“Channing was a much later addition but I heard stories from people who were involved in the film and people who weren’t involved in the film that he would see people who could finance the film and say, ‘I’m trying to make this film, Josephine, and I believe in it so strongly, and I hope you’ll be a part of it,” he continued.
“He was part of the team raising the money and trying to make the movie. And you just don’t see that very often. Their commitment and their steadfastness, it’s what you dream about in your actors.”
Kaplan revealed the production had come together at the eleventh hour both in terms of the casting and financing, with Araújo scouting Reeves in a farmer’s market just seven weeks before principal photography began, having auditioned 90 hopefuls, with the finalists including a “very established actor”.
“Mason was only seven at the time… she turned eight on set. We had a little party… she’s actually younger than on the page, but she seemed so mature for her age,” said Kaplan.
“Immediately, from the first time Beth started working with Mason in the casting process, she was like, ‘This is the girl. This is a choice,” he added, noting there was scepticism on the part of the producers about Reeve’s suitability for the role due to her young and lack of experience.
“If we had cast a nine-year-old, we would have been able to work that person more hours every day, so by casting someone younger our schedule had to be longer. We had to spend more money on this film just to cast Mason. Beth had to make compromises creatively to cast this girl who had never acted before… clearly it was the right choice. So, I don’t know, sometimes serendipity or just believe the director who knows what she wants.”
Kaplan said and the finance plan and project went through several iterations, with 99 percent of the people they approached turning them down.
“I think reason number one is perceived commerciality,” he said, on the pushback. “A film like this couldn’t possibly be commercial. Who wants to see something stark in stark times. We need comedy. We need levity. We need romantic comedies. We need films with Jason Statham, Gerald Butler. you don’t need a film about assault,” he said.
“I think there’s also inherent bias against films that are perhaps more geared towards women and assault survivors. So, I think there’s a lack of belief in them as an audience, and a lack of desire to try to find them as an audience.”
Sumerian Pictures Deal
Kaplan was speaking in the wake of the announcement on Saturday that Sumerian Pictures had acquired U.S. rights for the film, with the indie distributor making its biggest ever acquisition in a competitive bidding process.
“We were lucky enough to get a few offers on the film from different companies, although interestingly… nothing worldwide, only deals for the U.S. or international, nothing across. We found ourselves an interesting situation where we were picking specifically between U.S. distributors, not world distributors,” said Kaplan.
“We never necessarily envisioned this as a film made for streaming… we had a few offers, varying levels of financing, varying levels of theatrical commitment. Obviously, that plays some role in all of this. It was very important to Beth always, that our investors make their money back if they could. They took tremendous risk,” he said.
“Part of the calculus, on what we decided was, of course, financial, but Sumerian, in addition to making a very meaningful financial offer, also offered a very meaningful screen commitment, a very meaningful P&A commitment,” he continued, saying the company had paid mid to high seven figures.
“In this market, that’s a huge financial commitment. That’s a great outcome. That’s also not just a great outcome for the investors, it’s a commitment that they are making to the film as a business. They need to now go and push this film to make it work for them financially.’
Giving an update on his upcoming projects, Kaplan said he was hopeful that the It Follows sequel, with David Robert Mitchell returning to direct and led by Neon, on which he is a producer, would shoot this summer.
In the meantime, he is in the throes of post-production on Gabriel Nussbaum’s debut feature Triumph of the Will.