Toronto: Netflix Nabs Anna Kendrick’s Directorial Debut ‘Woman of the Hour’

Netflix has picked up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, for around $11 million after a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The streamer nabbed the U.S. and the remaining international rights to the true-life thriller. Woman of the Hour was first pitched a year ago at TIFF by Kendrick and AGC Studio’s CEO Stuart Ford, who are producing and fully financing the film.

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CAA Media Finance handled U.S. sales on the project, which is based on The Black List script by Ian MacDonald, and is understood to have received multiple offers for the thriller. Netflix also picked up the film for France, Italy, Benelux, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Indonesia and a host of other international territories.

In addition to producing and directing Woman of the Hour, Kendrick also stars in the stranger-than-fiction true story as Cheryl Bradshaw, a bachelorette on the hit 1970s TV matchmaking show The Dating Game. But her fairy-tale date takes a terrifying turn when the bachelor, Rodney Alcala, drops his charming façade to reveal the truth: He is in fact a psychopathic serial killer and in the middle of a murder spree.

The film was shot in Vancouver and has Kendrick playing Bradshaw as a struggling actor who decided to appear on the TV show, only to have a run-in with Alcala. Woman of the Hour came into Toronto without a U.S. distribution deal and had a first public screening on Friday at the Princess of Wales Theatre, a popular venue for acquisition titles.

Kendrick’s directorial debut, written by Ian MacAllister McDonald, did not sign a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, which has allowed a possible sale to a streaming giant early in the Toronto film sales market. The deal by Netflix for Woman of the Hour marks the first major movie acquisition during this year’s TIFF.

Woman of the Hour also stars Tony Hale, Daniel Zovatto and Nicolette Robinson. The producer credits are also shared by Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, among others.

8 p.m. Sept. 11. Updated with confirmation of a deal by Netflix for the U.S. and a host of international rights to the thriller.

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