EXCLUSIVE: We understand Netflix has beaten out multiple suitors and is closing up a worldwide deal for Natalie Portman rom-com Good Sex in a pact around the $55M mark.
It was a slow EFM in terms of splashy deals on the ground in Berlin but the wheels have been turning behind the scenes and this is one of the biggest ever carved out of the market.
As we revealed, the package sparked a bidding war earlier this month with Warner Bros, Amazon, Apple and Netflix among those in the mix.
Oscar winner Natalie Portman is set to star in the buzzy package, written and to be directed by Golden Globe winner Lena Dunham (Girls). CAA Media Finance and Film Nation Entertainment launched the project ahead of the market.
It’s zeitgeisty fare. After Babygirl and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, age gap romances are in vogue and in Good Sex it’s Portman’s turn to have a dalliance with a younger man. Buyers we’ve spoken to have praised the script.
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The synopsis reads: “After spending a decade in a failed relationship, successful couples’ therapist Ally (Portman) is turning 40 and is pushed, kicking and screaming, by her best friend back into the hopeless New York dating scene. But Ally finds her life pulled in opposing directions as she falls into a steamy fling with a 20-something Brooklyn hipster just as she begins a promising, more conventional relationship with Alan, a successful 50-something in Manhattan. As a romantic crossroads blossoms into a full-blown identity crisis, Ally juggles to keep these two very different men separate and to make sense of her own conflicting desires before she risks losing them both.” Casting for the two male leads is in process.
Portman and Sophie Mas will produce through their company, MountainA, along with Dunham and Michael Cohen under their Good Thing Going banner. Portman has previously spoken of her admiration for Dunham as a filmmaker and how she was inspired by her after seeing Tiny Furniture.
The winning bid is far in excess of the initial budget, more than double, and more again when tax breaks are factored in thanks to an anticipated New Jersey shoot. The deal is just shy of the EFM record from 2022 when Sony paid around $60M for Tom Hanks pic A Man Called Otto, but Good Sex surpasses that when tax breaks are factored in.
Black Swan and May December star Portman has Guy Ritchie’s Fountain Of Youth and Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist in post. Girls creator Dunham is in post on Netflix mini-series Too Much with Will Sharpe and Megan Stalter.
Netflix, CAA and FilmNation were unavailable for comment.
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