Strand eyeing 'Dogs' for stroll around U.S.

By VARIETY STAFF

LONDON --- Strand Releasing is poised to pick up U.S. rights to John Duigan's "Lawn Dogs," fresh from the pic's award-winning outing at the Montreal Film Festival.

The deal will come as a relief to Carlton Film Distributors, which fully financed the $7.5 million pic and had been looking for a U.S. distributor since the film was unveiled in the Cannes market in May.

Overlooked gem

Strand is believed to regard the film as an overlooked gem, a view supported by its best actor award at Toronto and some appreciative reviews.

It's the first film from producer Duncan Kenworthy since "Four Weddings and a Funeral," and examines the relationship between a misfit 10-year-old girl from a privileged background and a working-class young man in small-town Kentucky.

Strand has a good track record as a distributor of gay-tinged low-budget pics, but "Lawn Dogs" is a somewhat bigger proposition that its usual fare. There is also likely to be some embarrassment among Carlton execs about the fact that they turned down a much more lucrative $2 million pre-buy offer from Fox Searchlight at February's American Film Market, where a promo reel was screened.

Rank's last investment

At that time the company was still known as Rank Film Distributors, prior to its sale in April to Carlton Communications. "Lawn Dogs" was the first British film to be fully financed by Rank in over a decade --- and, as it turned out, also its last.