EXCLUSIVE: Veteran actor Martin Freeman (Black Panther) and writer-actor Rachel Benaissa (September Says) have partnered to launch a new production company called One Trick Poné.
The pair will kick off work under their label with two projects, a feature film titled The Greatest, written and directed by Danish filmmaker Jeanette Nordahl and starring Martin Freeman. Nordahl is best known for her 2020 Berlinale competition title Wildland, starring Sidse Babett Knudsen. The second project is a short titled A Tiny Thing, written by Rachel Benaissa, with Matthew Sterling set to direct, and Jake Gorton producing.
“We are very excited to announce our production company ‘One Trick Poné’. The stories we want to tell may be funny, tragic, and even uncomfortable, but always authentic and compelling,” Freeman and Benaissa told us.
Watch on Deadline
“The company will be a vehicle for developing our own work, but also a means of partnering with exciting and original voices, be they established or newer discoveries.”
Benaissa is a relatively new face. Her most recent on-screen credits include Netflix’s Irish Wish and Ariane Labed’s debut feature, September Says. As a writer, she has placed highly with projects in the Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship and the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. Alongside A Tiny Thing, she is currently developing a feature script titled Everything Means Nothing Now Anyway.
Freeman is an Emmy and BAFTA award-winning actor. His decades-long career has spanned film, television, and the stage. He will next be seen on the West End stage leading David Ireland’s latest production, The Fifth Step. The play is an alcoholism drama that explores the relationship between a newly sober 12-step programme attendee, Luka, played by Jack Lowden, with his sponsor and veteran of the program, James, played by Freeman. On screen, Freeman is set for Sky’s family feature film Flavia, directed by Bharat Nalluri and based on Alan Bradley’s Flavia De Luce novels. Freeman will also this year star alongside Mia McKenna-Bruce in the upcoming Netflix TV project The Seven Dials Mystery, adapted by Chris Chibnall from Agatha Christie’s original.
Freeman is represented by Modern Collective (UK), CAA (US), and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP. Benaissa is represented by The Agency Winterson’s.
The post Martin Freeman & Rachel Benaissa Team To Launch Production Company One Trick Poné appeared first on Deadline.
