Overture nabs 'Sunshine Cleaning'

Helmed by Christine Jeffs ("Rain," "Sylvia"), pic stars Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as sisters who earn their keep as a cleaning team that mops up crime scenes. Scripted by Megan Holley, the drama also stars Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn and Clifton Collins Jr.

The film was a hard sell at Sundance because the filmmakers were trying to recoup their cost, which insiders say was about $7 million. And some distribs were concerned that the family comedy-drama's title and Arkin's presence would provoke too much comparison to "Little Miss Sunshine."

"It was a movie that we wanted to buy. It just took us a while to work out the deal," Overture prexy Chris McGurk said.

Overture is considering a title change but still plans to release the pic in the fourth quarter of this year or the first of next year.

"You've got two extremely talented actors who are rising stars and are at the center of this movie," McGurk said. "We have to be careful we're not stepping on their other movies or vice versa."

"Cleaning" was produced by Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf and Jeb Brody of Big Beach, and Back Lot's Glenn Williamson. Filmmakers were repped by Cinetic Media.

Starz division Overture has been around for nearly a year and a half, but its first theatrical releases are just hitting the marketplace. Its first pic, the comedy "Mad Money," opened in January, to be followed by spring releases of "Sleepwalking" and "The Visitor."

Fall slate includes "Righteous Kill," with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and Overture's debut inhouse production, the thriller "Traitor."Comedies "Last Chance Harvey" and "Humboldt Park"follow.

Big Beach recently sold Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop," a 2007 Cannes and Toronto film fest screener. Beach is in post-production on Michael Caine starrer "Is There Anybody There?" and in pre-production on a Sam Mendes-helmed film scripted by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.