ScreenDaily is reporting that Entertainment One (eOne) has acquired the UK, Irish, and Australian rights to The Trainer, Neil Jordan’s new film set in the competitive world of horse-racing.
The film sees Liam Neeson play John Moore, a premier horse trainer in the west of Ireland who, beset by tragedy, loses everything he cherishes and almost forgets to live. Into his life comes a teenage refugee, Nadya, who has fled her own horrors and now finds herself in a confounding new world. Their only connection to themselves, and ultimately to their own hearts, is a horse called Allabelle, who is about to prove that they may all have one race left inside of them
The Irish Film Board will support the film, which will be produced by Sully screenwriter Komarnicki, Arthur Lappin, Robin Gurland, and Gregory O’Connor.
Commenting on the acquisition at the American Film Market (AFM), Gabrielle Stewart, Managing Director of HanWay Films who are handling sales on The Trainer, said:
Having eOne come on board the UK and Ireland, the film’s home territory, and also Australia is a ringing endorsement that The Trainer is being recognised in the market as the perfect mix of a first class film team and a powerful story with wide mainstream appeal.