Relativity, Scott high on 'Low'
AFI grad strikes it rich with first script
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Relativity Media outbid four studios and paid $650,000 against $1.1 million for "The Low Dweller," a dark drama set in 1986 Indiana.
Plan is for DiCaprio to play Slim, a man released after serving years in prison for murder who wants only to follow through on his promise to marry his long-suffering girlfriend. But when he discovers his brother has been murdered after getting involved in a gambling racket, he feels obliged to avenge the murder.
Focus Features creative exec Michael Pruss, an acquaintance of Ingelsby's, read "The Low Dweller" in January and loved it so much he circulated it among agents. WMA quickly signed Ingelsby, then tied in Scott Free. DiCaprio's Appian Way then came aboard, with both shingles producing with Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh. Brooklyn Weaver will also produce, and Adam Marshall will exec produce.
Timing of the film is uncertain, but buyers sparked not only to the script's "No Country for Old Men"-like plotline but also to the fact that lensing could be accomplished in a quick 35-day shoot. Scott and DiCaprio, who just worked together on the Warner Bros. drama "Body of Lies," have big projects on their dance cards but could slot "Low Dweller" in and get it done quickly.
DiCaprio did just that on "Shutter Island," the Paramount thriller adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel DiCaprio is currently shooting. He and Martin Scorsese expected to make "The Wolf of Wall Street," but when the project got stuck at Warner Bros., they quickly jumped to "Shutter Island," a project they knew they could complete before the expiration of SAG contracts in June.
There was no word as to whether Relativity plans to finance the film and lay it off on a studio or berth it at a major quickly.
