Focus Features announced today that they have acquired North American distribution rights to A Little Chaos, directed by Alan Rickman from a screenplay he wrote with Alison Deegan and Jeremy Brock. The company also acquired distribution rights to the film, which is financed by Lionsgate UK and BBC Films, in Scandinavia. The romantic drama stars Academy Award winner Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci, Danny Webb and Rickman himself.
A Little Chaos follows Sabine (Winslet), a strong-willed landscape designer who challenges sexual and class barriers when she is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIVs new palace at Versailles, causing her to become professionally and romantically entangled with the courts renowned landscape architect André Le Notre (Schoenaerts).
A Little Chaos had its world premiere as the closing-night film of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The project is produced by Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood via their Potboiler Productions banner, and Bertrand Faivre via The Bureau production banner. Executive Producers of the project are Zygi Kamasa, Guy Avshalom, Nick Manzi, Christine Langan, Ray Cooper, Norman Merry, and Richard Wolfe.
Peter Schlessel, CEO of Focus Features, said, “We are pleased to be in business with Alan Rickman and this sterling cast on such a crowd-pleasing movie. ‘A Little Chaos’ is a great addition to Focus Features 2015 slate.”
Zygi Kamasa, CEO of Lionsgate UK, commented, “We’re delighted to be in partnership with Focus Features. They are the perfect home to give this beautiful drama the attention it needs in the US and Canada.”
Director Alan Rickman added, “I’m very proud of the fact that ‘A Little Chaos’ found its North American home during its World Premiere at TIFF. Its encouraging to see that the film resonated with both audiences and the industry in Toronto, and I’m excited for its release next spring.”
Focus Features will release A Little Chaos in North America on March 27, 2015. Lionsgate UK, meanwhile, will release the film in the UK during the first quarter of 2015.
