The Wagner/Cuban Companies today announced that its latest 2929 Productions’ film, What Just Happened, will open on October 3. The film will be released through 2929’s sister company, Magnolia Pictures, and veteran marketing executive Russell Schwartz has been brought on board to develop and implement the marketing and distribution strategy. Directed by Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and based on the best-selling memoir by veteran Hollywood producer Art Linson (who also penned the screenplay), the film stars Robert De Niro, Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci, Robin Wright Penn, John Turturro, Michael Wincott, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn and Kristen Stewart. The film was produced by 2929 Productions and Linson, with De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions.
What Just Happened is a winningly sharp comedy about two nail-biting, back-stabbing, roller-coaster weeks in the world of a middle-aged Hollywood producer (De Niro) as he tries to juggle an actual life with an outrageous series of crises in his day job. The film is a rollicking, shrewd tale of a man besieged by people who want him to be all sorts of things — a money maker, an ego buster, a bad-news breaker, an artistic champion, a loyal husband, an all-knowing father, not to mention sexy, youthful and tuned-in — everything except for the one thing he and all the preposterously behaved people he’s surrounded by really are: bumbling human beings just trying to survive by any means necessary.
“Although this movie is set in Hollywood, it’s really a story about contemporary American life that all of us can relate to,” Russell Schwartz said. “I’m looking forward to working with 2929 and Magnolia to bring this smart, funny and authentic film to audiences across the country.”
The behind-the-scenes team includes cinematographer Stephane Fontaine (Talk To Me, The Beat My Heart Skipped), editor Hank Corwin (The New World), production designer Stefania Cella (Man of the Year) and composer Marcelo Zarvos (The Good Shepherd). The film is set to a soundtrack that mixes the classic cinematic sounds of Ennio Morricone with the songs of Nick Drake, Citizen Cope, Dire Straits, Bebel Gilberto and Nina Simone, among others.
