Miramax is 'Station' master
Shingle pays $1.5 mil for McCarthy's 'Agent'
Sold at the Sundance Film Festival by Cinetic Media, pic bowed in Dramatic Competition Saturday.
Oddball drama concerns a dwarf who chooses a life of separation and spends his time pursuing his passion for trains but becomes drawn into the lives of two other loners. Pic stars Patricia Clarkson, Peter Dinklage and Bobby Cannavale.
Mary Jane Skalski, Robert May and Kathryn Tucker produced the film; Arianna Bocco, senior VP of acquisitions, brought pic into company with Agnes Mentre, exec VP of acquisitions and co-productions.
Other bidders understood to be in the mix included Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Sony's Screen Gems and Newmarket.
In other high-profile deals Wednesday, Fox Searchlight picked up worldwide rights (excluding the U.K.) for Catherine Hardwicke's "thirteen." Deal was in the region of $2 million and ends four days of tense negotiations. U.K. rights are retained by Working Title. Michael London and Jeff Levy-Hinte are the producers.
Prices also began to soar for the fest crowd-pleaser "Pieces of April," with industry sources citing numbers as high as $4 million for North American rights, though most bidders were at the $2.5 million-$3 million range.
'Love' attracts suitors
Thomas Vinterberg's new pic, "It's All About Love," has also garnered several bids and a deal is expected to close over the weekend. Similarly, UTA reps were considering bids on "Nightstalker" and "Die Mommy Die."
Meanwhile, William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson were considering offers on Summit Entertainment's "dot the i" as well as interest in "Bookies," the sophomore effort of "Happy, Texas" writer-director Mark Illsey that stars Nick Stahl and Lukas Haas.
Other pics expected to secure distribution at the fest included ContentFilm's "Party Monster" and "American Splendor," the HBO Films presentation about the life and work of underground comicbook artist and VA hospital file clerk Harvey Pekar.
The Sundance Film Festival runs through Sunday.
(Sharon Swart contributed to this report.)
