Elizabeth Banks is heading to surgery.
The Call Jane, Hunger Games and Love and Mercy star is set to lead A Mistake, a suspenseful medical drama from writer-director Christine Jeffs (Sunshine Cleaning, Sylvia, Rain) and leading New Zealand production entity GFC Films.
Cornerstone will handle international sales and distribution and will commence sales at Cannes. The company is co-repping the U.S. together with UTA Independent Film Group. Principal photography will commence on Aug. 15 in New Zealand.
In A Mistake, Banks plays Elizabeth Taylor, a gifted surgeon and the only female consultant at her hospital. But while operating on a young woman, something goes horribly wrong. In the midst of a new scheme to publicly report surgeons’ performance, her colleagues begin to close ranks, and Elizabeth’s life is thrown into disarray.
A Mistake is a GFC Films production, produced by Matthew Metcalfe (McLaren, Dean Spanley, 6 Days) and Jeffs, with Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder executive producing. Film financing has been offered by the New Zealand Film Commission and Te Puna Kairangi, the New Zealand Government’s Premium Productions for International Audiences Fund.
“I have wanted to work with Christine, one of the most talented filmmakers to ever emerge from New Zealand, for some 10 years now and when she first discussed her vision for A Mistake with me, I knew immediately that I wanted to support her to bring it to the screen,” said Metcalfe.
Jeffs’ debut feature film, Rain, was nominated for a Golden Camera Award at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. She also directed the hugely popular Sunshine Cleaning, which screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Banks is represented by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and attorney PJ Shapiro at Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Jeffs is represented by UTA.