by Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline
EXCLUSIVE: AMC-owned RLJE Films is closing a North American deal near $2 million at the Sundance Film Festival for Spree, an edgy gonzo satire that stars Stranger Things‘ Joe Keery, Sasheer Zamata, David Arquette, Kyle Mooney, Mischa Barton and Josh Ovalle. Pic premiered last Friday at the MARC and several entities bid.
Keery plays a disaffected young guy who seeks quick validation by engaging in a murder spree in a rideshare car, called Spree, and chronicling it on a Facebook-live type site called #TheLesson. He’s decked out his car with cameras for a nonstop livestream full of killer entertainment. In the middle of all this madness, a stand-up comedian with her own viral agenda, Jessie Adams, crosses his path and becomes our only hope to put a stop to his misguided carnage.
Prolific indie director Eugene Kotlyarenko makes his Sundance debut with this gonzo satire of demented social media obsession. Adopting the ambitious style of a continuous social media feed, Spree is distinguished by its ingenuity, insights and an energetic pulse driven by the lead performance of Keery. Script is written by Gene McHugh and Kotlyarenko, and Matthew Budman produces with Sumaiya Kaveh, John Lang and Kotlyarenko. Exec producers are Drake, Adel “Future” Nur, Anthony Gonzales and Alex Hughes.
RLJE Films will give the film a theatrical release. It has created a niche with Mandy, Bone Tomahawk, Brawl In Cell Block 99 and Color Out of Space, the latter of which is now in theaters.
Spree is produced by Forest Hill Entertainment, which is backed by Drake and run by former Annapurna production head Budman, whose producing David O. Russell’s next film with Christian Bale.
Endeavor Content brokered the deal.
Director of Photography: Jeff Leeds Cohn
