Shia LaBeouf will star in The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman for Mandate Pictures. Dante Ariola will direct the romantic actioner from an original screenplay by Matt Drake. Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa of Bona Fide Productions will produce along with William Horberg. Dean Parisot and Mandate president Nathan Kahane will executive produce. Bona Fide’s Carlo Martinelli will serve as a co-producer. Lawrence Grey will oversee the project on behalf of the company. Mandate has the film on the fast track toward a fall 2010 production. Lionsgate is launching international sales in Cannes next month.
In the film, Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) was just a normal guy… until he fell in love with the one girl who will probably get him killed. When Charlie meets the absolutely irresistible Gabi shes already been claimed by Nigel, an insanely violent crime boss with a gang of thugs at his disposal. Armed with little more than his wit and naïve charm, Charlie endures one bruising beat down after another to woo Gabi and keep her out of harm’s way. Finally his exploits of blind valor create such a mess that he’s left with only one way out; to save the girl of his dreams, must Charlie Countryman die?
LaBeouf can be seen this September in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and next summer in Michael Bay’s Transformers 3.
Dante Ariola is a five-time DGA Award nominee and won the prestigious title of DGA Commercial Director of the Year in 2007. He has directed commercials for Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Nike, HP, and Sony PlayStation, among others.
Matt Drake’s “Charlie Countryman” screenplay was featured on the 2007 Black List. Drake is currently writing Project X for Todd Phillips (Green Hat Films) and Joel Silver (Silver Pictures). Project X marks the first feature Phillips will produce under his banner at Warner Bros. Previously, Drake co-wrote Tully with Hilary Birmingham. The film was nominated for four Independent Spirit awards including Best Screenplay and Best Feature.
