Kenneth Branagh and Robin Wright Penn have inked to star in the indie comedy
“How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog” under the helm of writer-director Michael
Kalesniko.
Robert Redford is exec-producing the under $10 million pic, which is being
financed by Avi Lerner’s Millennium Films and German production banner
Cinerenta.
“Neighbor’s Dog” is being produced by Michael Nozik under the South Fork
Pictures banner, the indie division of Redford’s Wildwood Enterprises, along
with Brad Weston of Millennium Films and Nancy M. Ruff.
In the pic, Branagh will portray an acclaimed L.A.-based playwright who has
fallen on hard times, with a string of flops and a midlife crisis
contributing to his angst. Wright Penn will play his wife, the most stable
force in his life, but more eager to start a family than he is.
When the scribe, whose plight is magnified by his lack of sleep due to his
neighbor’s barking dog, befriends an equally distressed 8-year-old neighbor,
things turn around for both of them.
Pic is slated to go before the cameras next month in Los Angeles.
“Neighbor’s Dog” has been in development at South Fork Pictures for a few
years and does not fall under the overall deal Redford recently signed with
European studio Eureka (a partnership between Germany’s Kirch Group and
Italy’s Mediaset), which funds development (including a large discretionary
fund) and overheads for Wildwood and the specialty label South Fork.
Branagh is in post-production on the Shakespeare Film Co./Intermedia feature
“Love’s Labour’s Lost,” which he wrote, directed and co-starred in. He also
co-stars in the current Warner Bros. release, “Wild Wild West.”
Branagh is repped by CAA and managed by Judy Hofflund.
Wright Penn, who is repped by the William Morris Agency, last appeared in
“Message in a Bottle.” Her other credits include “Hurlyburly,” “She’s So
Lovely” and “Forrest Gump.”
Kalesniko is best known for writing the Howard Stern biopic “Private Parts.”
“Neighbor’s Dog” will mark his feature directorial debut. He is repped by CAA.
Ruff, who is partnered with Kalesniko in Lonsdale Prods., previously produced
Kalesniko’s short “Algorithms,” which paved the way for the writer-director
to set up “Neighbor’s Dog” with South Fork.