Major US Sale And Rave Reviews For Irish Film ‘Death Of A Superhero’
Riding on a wave of positive critical reviews and successful screenings after the Toronto International Film Festival, the Irish film DEATH OF A SUPERHERO directed by Ian Fitzgibbon (Perrier's Bounty, A Film with me in it, Spin the Bottle) has secured a number of international sales, ensuring the film will be seen by audiences all over the world.
The film which has its world premier at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival has sold to Tribeca Enterprises in the USA and Canada. With its innovative mix of live action and animation, DEATH OF A SUPERHERO tells a blisteringly modern love story that is tender, comic and truthful. Filmed on location in Dublin and Wicklow, the feature is based on the homonymous novel by internationally acclaimed author Anthony McCarten, who also wrote the screenplay. DEATH OF A SUPERHERO stars Andy Serkis (The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Lord of the Rings) Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Love Actually, Nowhere Boy), Michael McElhatton (Intermission, Adam & Paul, I Went Down) and Sharon Horgan (Pulling).
Produced by Grand Pictures, the company which produced Paths to Freedom and Spin the Bottle, Donald is a different kind of superhero. In his real life he is sick, but the 15-year-old has an outstanding talent to animate with pen and ink a dark world in which an invincible superhero battles a deadly nemesis and his sexy sidekick. But while Donald's cartoon hero is unbreakable and unable to love, he himself is utterly breakable and bound for love. In a rollercoaster ride he learns of life through his unorthodox psychologist Adrian King, discovers love with the rebellious Shelly and makes peace with his parents while his time is running out.
Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival critics on Variety wrote " FitzGibbon has achieved something special", whilst Screen Daily wrote "impressive cast and moving storyline.... Serkis and Brodie Sangster form a convincing and subtle bond". The film has also been described by the Toronto Film Scene as "an exceptional coming-of-age story" that "should delight anyone interested in the artistic use of superheroes to relate metaphysical conflict and the violence within".
DEATH OF A SUPERHERO is produced by Grand Pictures in Dublin and a Bavaria Pictures in and funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Board, Bayerischer Bankenfonds, German Federal Film Fund, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.