Amazon Acquires Adam Driver Drama 'The Report,' Emma Thompson Comedy 'Late Night' at Sundance
Big deals are going down at the Sundance Film Festival, and two of them involve Amazon and its deep pockets.
The streaming service paid $14 million to acquire "The Report," a political drama starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Maura Tierney, and Michael C. Hall.
Amazon also spent $13 million on "Late Night," a comedy starring Emma Thompson as a Letterman-esque talk show host whose world is turned upside down when she attempts to address diversity issues by hiring her first female staff writer (Mindy Kaling). That figure sets a new Sundance record for domestic distribution rights.
"The Report," written and directed by Scott Z. Burns, is based on the true story of the Bush-Cheney era torture programs. Senate staffer Daniel Jones (Driver) leads an investigation into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program and learns about “enhanced interrogation techniques” that the CIA adopted after 9/11. When Jones and the Senate Intelligence Committee, including Dianne Feinstein (Bening) attempt to release the results from the investigation, the CIA and White House seek to muzzle them.