In a surprising move, Apparition co-founder and head Bob Berney tendered his resignation yesterday just days before the upstart indie distribution company was scheduled to hit the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and shake hands for new films to handle under their banner.
The company, founded late last year by Berney and River Road Productions chief Bill Pohlad, had a goal to acquire and release eight films per year and had already released, to modest success, films like the grossly underappreciated “Bright Star,” “The Runaways” and the Australian thriller “The Square” this year. However, the breaking point for Berney and Pohlad may have been Doug Liman’s upcoming political drama “Fair Game.” Pohlad, an executive producer on the film, apparently didn’t give the Cannes entry to his own distribution company to handle, instead handing it over to Summit, which may have caused the rift between the two partners. Though that’s just speculation at this point.
The biggest question right now surrounds Terrence Malick’s highly-anticipated “Tree Of Life.” While the film is still set up at Apparition it remains to be seen what is going to happen in the coming days in the wake of Berney’s depature. According to Deadline, Berney “has the ability to take key staffers with him” and moreover, it’s rumored that the Weinsteins are already wooing the executive. Sara Rose, currently the head of acquisitions for Apparition, previously worked with Berney at Picturehouse and if she, and whoever else, decides to follow him, the indie distributor may be little more than a name.
It will be interesting to hear how this plays out but if Apparition closes its doors, it might be a while yet before we see Malick’s film. In a worst-case-scenario, creditors would circle whatever is left first and we imagine the film would have to be sold off again and all that takes time. That is a big IF, though. The other scenario is that Pohlad dusts himself and gets the wheels back on the company and keeps moving forward. Filling Berney’s shoes, however, is going to be quite the task.
