Back in December it was announced that after nine years apart, Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze would be re-teaming to write and direct, respectively, a new project. Their third collaboration together and first since 2002's Adaptation, it was reported that they were shopping their idea to independent financiers while putting everything together. Now it appears that they have found a backer.
Deadline is reporting that Megan Ellison, who recently made movie fans blissfully happy by offering to back Paul Thomas Anderson's next two projects, is currently negotiating a deal to acquire the new Kaufman-Jonze project for her Annapurna Pictures label. The report also sheds some light on the plot of the project, calling it a satire about global leaders who "gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the worlds, from oil prices to wars that will be waged."
I think that filmophiles world wide need to stand up and give Megan Ellison a round of applause right now. In addition to the three aforementioned projects, she also recently purchased John Hillcoat's The Wettest County in the World - a project once thought dead due to budgeting problems - and Andrew Dominik's Cogan's Trade, which is the midst of collecting a stunner cast. Ellison and Annapurna Pictures is doing its best to give great filmmakers opportunity to practice their craft and we should all be thankful.
