First Look catches Oz's 'Fish'

'Little' pic stars Blanchett, Weaving

By IAN MOHR

Blanchett

Weaving

Cate Blanchett stars in 'Little Fish,' an Oz-set crime caper.

Distrib First Look Studios has scooped up all domestic rights to "Little Fish," the Oz-set sophomore feature by Aussie director Rowan Woods that stars Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.

Sam Neill, Martin Henderson and Dustin Nguyen also star in the story of an ex-junkie looking for a fresh start who is seduced into one last criminal venture.

Move by First Look -- headed by Henry Winterstern -- comes shortly after the company tapped former Paramount Classics co-head Ruth Vitale prexy last month.

"Fish" -- which played the Melbourne and Toronto fests, as well as AFM -- was sold off by Myriad Pictures, headed by Kirk D'Amico.

Pic has won a slew of awards Down Under this season, with Blanchett and Weaving drawing thesp honors at Oz's Independent Film Awards.

First Look has set a March release.

Vincent Sheehan, Liz Watts and Richard Keddie produced the pic, which was based on a script by Jacqueline Perske.

D'Amico, Barrie Osborne, Robert Mullis and Marion Pilowsky exec produced.

First Look's slate also includes upcoming Aussie pic "The Proposition," starring Guy Pearce, Emily Watson and Danny Huston.