Figgis' improv given 'Time' on Sony's clock
Helmer financing, writing drama
What's particularly unusual is that there is essentially no script, and the film, understood to be shot entirely with digital cameras in an experimental, cinema-verite style, will be completely improvised.
Figgis, whose credits include the acclaimed "Leaving Las Vegas" and "The Loss of Sexual Innocence," will finance the film himself using his Sony-based Red Mullet Prods. banner; Sony will then acquire and distrib the finished pic for a reduced distribbing fee.
Cast members -- "an eclectic acting ensemble," according to Figgis -- will work for scale in a piece described by agents approached for casting as "more like theater than film."
Figgis will helm and serve as putative writer, but would say only that the film is "an intense psychological drama."
But one Sony insider familiar with an initial draft of the thriller said that it centers on a woman who had created a new life for herself in Manhattan after murdering her abusive boyfriend seven years earlier. When corrupt cops find out the truth and blackmail her, she reveals her past to her psychologist husband, and the two attempt to combat the blackmailers.
How much, if any, of the original thriller's premise will emerge in the new, scriptless version of "Time Code" remains to be seen.
"I'm terribly excited about the challenge of ushering in the next century with an innovative piece of new filmmaking," Figgis said.
Pic will be fast-tracked. Shooting will begin on Oct. 29 and continue for a full month.
Figgis is repped by ICM and George Hayum at Armstrong, Hirsch, Jackoway, Wertheimer.
