THE WAY BACK To Be Released In 2010

Looks like Peter Weir’s film THE WAY BACK will see a 2010 release. When the film premiered at the 37th Telluride Film Festival, A.O. Scott, of the New York Times wrote in early September:

The drama of human beings confronting the elemental power of nature figures in later work like “The Mosquito Coast” and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” and also in his latest movie, “The Way Back.” … Mr. Weir’s style is stately, almost classical, and the astonishing story he has to tell in the new movie “about a group of men who escaped from a Soviet Labor camp in 1941 and walked from Siberia to India” has an old-fashioned gravity and grandeur. There are fine performances from Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Jim Sturgess as Janusz, the Polish prisoner who leads the trek toward freedom, and breathtaking images of tundra, desert forest and grassland.

Here’s what actor Jim Sturgess had to say abou the film in December of last year.

Could this be the Best Picture dark-horse that some pundits have been on the lookout for? Or is it just another DEFIANCE, the woefully overlooked Ed Zwick 2008 film? Both actor Ed Harris and director Peter Weir have never won an Academy Award in their respective categories. It would certainly be nice to see these two artists finally win and this film assuredly walks, talks and looks like an Oscar.

Press Release:

“After the positive reception and critical acclaim we received at Telluride, it was clear that THE WAY BACK should have an Oscar qualifying run. It was incredibly gratifying that audiences and critics responded so favorably to Peter Weir’s vision, the actors outstanding performances, and the stunning craftwork,” comment Sinclair and Daniel Battsek, president of National Geographic Entertainment.

“As a new company, we are honored to have the Wrekin Hill name attached to such an acclaimed film as THE WAY BACK. We are extremely enthusiastic about bringing the film to audiences this winter,” says Ball, CEO Wrekin Hill Entertainment.

Nigel Sinclair, CEO and Co-Chairman of Exclusive Media Group (“Exclusive”) and Newmarket Films (“Newmarket”) and Chris Ball, President and CEO of newly formed Wrekin Hill Entertainment (“Wrekin Hill”) announced today that their first joint Newmarket / Wrekin Hill release will be to give, six-time Academy Award nominee Peter Weir’s THE WAY BACK , an Academy Award qualifying run from December 29, 2010 in Los Angeles, followed by a theatrical release of upwards of 500 screens on January 21, 2011.

The film stars Ed Harris (Pollack, Gone Baby Gone), Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, The Other Boleyn Girl), Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Kick Ass) and Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Crazy Heart).

The Way Back is the first film produced under the Exclusive Films label to be distributed through Exclusive’s subsidiary, Newmarket in partnership with Wrekin Hill. National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi co-produced the film as part of their joint production agreement.

The Way Back, which recently had its World Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, is inspired by Slavomir Rawicz’s acclaimed novel The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, as well as by other real life accounts. The film chronicles the escape of a small group of multi-national prisoners from a Siberian gulag in 1940 and their epic life affirming journey over thousands of miles across five hostile countries.

Producers are Joni Levin, Peter Weir, Duncan Henderson and Nigel Sinclair. Keith Clarke, John Ptak, Guy East, Simon Oakes, Tobin Armbrust, Jake Eberts, Edward Borgerding, Mohammed Khalaf, Adam Leipzig, Scott Rudin and Jonathan Schwartz are Executive Producers.

Production Companies : Spitfire Pictures, National Geographic Entertainment & Imagenation Abu Dhabi