Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to Pieces of a Woman, which stars Shia LaBeouf and The Crown star Vanessa Kirby playing a couple shattered by the loss of their newborn baby.
Also Saturday, Kirby was awarded the Volpi Cup for best actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance in Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo‘s first English-language movie after his 2014 break-out film White Dog.
“As a European filmmaker, I couldn’t be more excited and appreciative of finding my home for this film with Netflix. Their taste in independent cinema feels like the United Artists of the 1970s. The true champions of filmmakers and original voices for today,” the director said in a statement about the distribution deal with Netflix.
On Friday, Netflix sealed a separate 8-figure deal for Halle Berry‘s MMA drama and directorial debut, Bruised.
Pieces of a Woman, which has the prestige of Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, portrays the childbirth tragedy involving a young mother (Kirby) as she begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that touches her husband, played by LaBeouf, her mother (Ellen Burstyn) and her midwife (Molly Parker). Sarah Snook, Iliza Shlesinger, Benny Safdie and Jimmie Falls round out the ensemble cast.
British actress Kirby is best known for playing Princess Margaret in Netflix‘s The Crown and supporting roles in action films like Hobbs & Shaw and Mission: Impossible.
Lensed in Montreal and set in Boston, Pieces of a Woman is having its North American premiere on Saturday night at the Toronto Film Festival, with an in-person gala screening at Bell Lightox. The film is written by Kata Weber, the director’s frequent collaborator, and produced by Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson and Aaron Ryder.
The executive producer credits are shared by Sam Levinson, Stuart Manashil, Viktoria Petranyi, Jason Cloth, Richard McConnell, Suarj Maraboyina, Aaron Gilbert and Steven Thibault.