EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas is including a brand new sports-focused gross sales label to its rising roster of genre-based corporations and themed gross sales strands.
Bannered OUI MICHEL, the label is launching with documentary Nasty, about controversial Romanian tennis legend Ilie Nastase, which makes its worldwide premiere as a Particular Screening in Cannes Official Choice this Could.
Directed by Romanian filmmakers Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu and Tudor D. Popescu, the doc focuses on the rapid aftermath of Nastase’s sudden worldwide fame when he received his first U.S. Open in 1972 and made it into the Wimbledon and Davis Cup finals that very same yr.
As per the official synopsis: “Nasty explores his highs and lows, the controversies that surrounded the 1973 world primary ranked participant, and the enduring affect he has had on the world of tennis. Lovable, charming and beneficiant, but temperamental, smug and obscene – Nastase disrupted the game’s antiquated etiquette with an important sense of showmanship on the court docket and have become its first insurgent rock star.”
The doc mixes footage and interviews with pal and former tennis associate Ion Tiriac in addition to a bunch of former tennis champions John McEnroe, Billie Jean King (who received the ladies’s title on the 1972 U.S. open), Stan Smith, Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker and Yannick Noah.
Giurgiu and Pascariu additionally produce below the banner of Libra Movies.
“Ilie Nastase was the first Iron Curtain athlete ever to make a huge effect on world sport. Lovable, charming and beneficiant but additionally temperamental and antagonist, he was the rockstar of his time. How to not make a movie about such a persona,” says Giurgiu, who additionally wrote the screenplay.
“We’ve been engaged on this challenge for 4 years and I’m so joyful it would premiere internationally in Cannes. I’m positive it would make a splash. It options unseen footage from the 70s and nice testimonies from different sport superstars.”
Different titles on the inaugural OUI MICHEL slate embrace Italian director Nico Marzano’s documentary Napoli 1990, Napoli 2023, capturing the sprit of the Southern Italian metropolis of Naples and its beloved soccer membership by means of the prism of the latter’s victories within the nationwide championship – the Scudetto – in 1990 and 2023.
Goodfellas President Vincent Maraval says the brand new OUI MICHEL label is born out of his private love of sports activities, which is shared by different members of his group, in addition to his perceived hole in marketplace for a targeted strategy to promoting sports-themed fare.
The identify OUI MICHEL comes from the exclamation “Oui Michel!” of sports activities commentator Thierry Roland when French soccer star Michel Platini scored a memorable aim from a free kick throughout a world cup qualifying match between France and Netherlands in 1981.
Acquisitions for the label can be dealt with by Maraval, Livia Van Der Staay, Eva Diederix, and Antoine Guilhem
Goodfellas (ex-Wild Bunch Worldwide) has a protracted historical past of dealing with sports activities themed fiction options and documentaries. Previous gross sales titles together with James Toback’s Tyson, Emir Kusturica’s Maradona by Kusturica and Ronnie Sandahl’s Tiger about Swedish soccer star Martin Bengtsson.
The OUI MICHEL label joins Goodfellas rising roster of labels and sister corporations together with the genre-focused Wild West and animation targeted Gebeka Worldwide.