EXCLUSIVE: It only took five hours into a new studio regime for incoming Paramount Pictures Co-Chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein to put some bounce into the Melrose lot. Deadline can reveal they have closed on the town’s hottest package, and their first bright shiny new film package will be High Side, re-teaming A Complete Unknown’s James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet.
Peter Chernin and David Ready are attached to produce on behalf of Chernin Entertainment alongside Mangold.
Deadline revealed the project earlier this week. It’s based on an original, unpublished story by Jaime Oliveira, who is also adapting the screenplay.
It’s Heat meets Hell or High Water, mixed in with one of those Bruce Springsteen songs about tragic brother relationship. Chalamet will play a former MotoGP racer, haunted by a career-ending crash and a family legacy of abandonment. He’s running a garage and tending to his drug addict father. When dad dies, he’s drawn back into the world of high-speed risks and extreme danger, when his estranged brother, already being pursued by the FBI, recruits him for a series of bank robberies on superbikes.
“We’re thrilled to be in business with visionary artists like James and Timothée, and exceptional collaborators like Peter and David at Chernin. What Jaime has created reflects the kind of bold, original storytelling we’re committed to championing at Paramount – and we couldn’t be more excited to hit the ground running with High Side,” said Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, Co-Chairs of Paramount Pictures.
“David, Dana, and Josh display a real commitment to original, story-driven filmmaking on the big screen and this passion made it easy for Timothée, Peter, and me to land on this project. Timothée is a trusted collaborator, a generational artist, and a person I adore. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and work together again,” said James Mangold.
The project reunites Chernin Entertainment with Mangold after the collaborations on Ford vs Ferrari and The Greatest Showman.
Chernin is repped by Brittenham LLP, and Next Wave; Mangold is repped by by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Chalamet by Brian Swardstrom, UTA, Gang Tyre Ramer Brown & Passman Inc and Relevant; Oliveira by Sugar23 and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
