Lionsgate Getting Into the Stephen Gaghan Business

Lionsgate made the announcement today they would be buying the rights for the upcoming film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan.   For those of you who do not know, Gaghan is the man behind such high-profile drama as ‘Traffic’ and ‘Syriana.’   Gaghan will direct and producer the new film and is co-writing the screenplay with Shannon Burke.

The new thriller has this as an official synopsis:

All global activities are local somewhere… an elite, highly trained, deep cover operative loses everything, ultimately disappearing into Brooklyn, where he must start over. He washes up as a beat cop, only to discover the global organization he was dedicated to fighting is also operating in his new backyard.

Alli Shearmur, President of Motion Picture Production for Lionsgate, had this to say about the collaboration:

We are very excited to be in business with Stephen Gaghan, a master storyteller who has raised the bar for character-driven suspense in contemporary film. Steve has earned the right to have greater control over the creative content of his films along with a meaningful participation in its commercial success. It’s the kind of deal that Lionsgate is uniquely positioned to offer superior creators like Steve, and the formula works beautifully for all involved — for Steve, for Lionsgate, and not least, for audiences looking for smart, thrilling entertainment.

Gaghan had this love to give for Lionsgate:

Lionsgate as a studio has a proven track record in delivering great genre hits, and I’m impressed by the acumen and commitment of the entire team. Joe, Alli, and Wolfgang believe in putting the filmmaker at the center of the process, and they’ve built a next-generation business model that allows filmmakers to participate as true partners in the economic value they’re generating. It’s an attractive and innovative way to do business, which hopefully will lead to greater risk-taking in the exploration of established genres.

As more of a global story, we all hope and pray this is more ‘Syriana’ than ‘Abandon,’ the 2002 film Gaghan cut his directing teeth on.   We aren’t holding the film against him, but it’s always interesting to go back and see where someone started.

No title for the new film was announced.