In 2015, Molly Smith, Trent Luckingbill and Thad Luckingbill – The founders of the financing and production company of the film Black Label Media – experienced the “deafening” roar of their first Cannes Ovation as “Sicario” producers. (“There is no first in the world more glamorous than a rod first,” said Smith Variety Friday afternoon.) During the decade since then, the company went from an emerging outfit to a major actor, arriving on the Croisette with “Die, My Love” by Lynne Ramsay, with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
“We just looked at the business change so much, but at the same time, it feels almost in a loop,” said Smith. “The independent film and how we would write films at the beginning seem to be back in force.”
Addition of Trent Luckingbill: “We started to be a company focused on filmmakers, and we were lucky at the start to work with big names like Denis Villeneue and Jean-Marc Vallée. We have not changed this mission. We got on our weapons on the way we are motivated to make films.”
The company’s credits include “devotion” (directed by JD Dillard), “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (directed by Kasi Lemmons), “Only the Brave” (directed by Joseph Kosinski) and “Demolition” (directed by Jean Marc Vallée). Black Label has also co -financed and executive producer The “La Land” winner of an Oscars with Lionsgate.
Black Label went on “Die, My Love” at the scenario stadium. Martin Scorsese discovered the first novel by Ariana Harwicz in 2017 – about a woman who has just had a baby and who is engulfed by love and madness, to which her husband seems unconscious – and transmitted her to her and to manage her from Jennifer Lawrence, Rick Yorn; Lawrence and her excellent corpse partner Justine Ciarrocchi developed the project and launched conversations with Ramsay, then Pattinson signed to play Lawrence’s husband.
“It was a big book, and this first project distilled it to a story where someone could enter a central performance, like Jen,” said Trent Luckingbill. “Benten this role takes a lot of courage. You had to be someone without fear. ”
And Lawrence delivered. The refrain of all those who have seen the film so far have been: “God, it is good!” Thad Luckobill has entered. “She has always been a movie star, but she is in her own league.”
A black label media force as an independent financing studio, noted Luckingbill, is their ability to quickly move on projects that we fall in love – with or without a distribution partner. “Packaging is generally the part that slows us down the most,” he said, but Lawrence associated with Pattinson was a dream combination.
“It is a cool story alone-they have grown in a way in the parallels” Twilight “-” Hunger Games “, and never worked together. We therefore like the packaging,” he explained. “Then we have just continued our wishes, like Sissy Spacek, Nick Nolte and Lakeith Stanfield. The pieces fell really well – a testimony of that of the script and Lynne, because everyone knows what she can do. “
The project turned to Calgary from August to October from last year and they accelerated post-production in the hope of going to Cannes. “Die, My Love” was a late addition to the programming of the competition, projection of the festival committee after the official press conference on April 10.
“Lynne is a darling of Cannes,” said Trent Luckingbill. “So, in our minds, we thought,” God, if we can do it in time, wouldn’t it be great? ” We certainly had to push to put it in shape, in the hope that we could succeed, succeed and thank God that we have done. »»
The Lucky Publicy version will be projected in the palace on Saturday evening is “as fresh as you can be,” joked Smith, noting that Ramsay was in the final mixture 48 hours before our interview. Now the film is finally ready to be shown to an audience of moviegoers and potential buyers.
“We knew that when we had obtained this script that we did not go trying to buy it in advance for the distribution,” said Smith. “The calculation is only your intestine. We knew that we had to go doing this independently. We do not try to insert actors B or C here to hit the figures. But because it is Jen and Lynne Ramsay – who is such an event herself, we [decided] To make it purely independently and trust our intestine to do it as economically as possible. »»
So, in general, who are their hopes of post-city “die, my love”?
“I think that the film – certainly with this distribution and that Lynne Ramsay is so cinematographic – deserves theaters and, hopefully, he will find an audience who wants to take advantage of it in theaters,” said Smith. “But all the options are on the table, because that’s how we have to drive in this business now, right?”
Trent Luckbill hopes that solid performance will help him stand out. “When we examine potential projects, you ask this question:” Is it a theatrical version? ” Is it a streamer? Or is it a hybrid? With “Die, My Love”, it’s about finding the right partner.
