Italian Dramedy ‘Everything is Gonna Be Alright’ Set for German Remake (EXCLUSIVE)

In an unusual move, German and Swiss indie DCM Film International has snapped up German-language remake rights to Italian dramedy “Andrà Tutto Bene” (“Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”) directed by Francesco Bruni, even before the film’s theatrical release in Italy.

While one could be forgiven for thinking the title pertains to the coronavirus pandemic, this pic is instead about a down-and-out film director who discovers he has a form of leukemia for which he needs a stem cell transplant from a matching donor. The deal for German remake rights was inked during lockdown by Italy’s Vision Distribution and DCM. Bruni’s latest work had screened in still unfinished form at Berlin’s European Film Market in February. DCM is currently looking at various German directors and talents to attach to the project.

Since the film’s planned March release in Italy was postponed due the pandemic, Vision Distribution is now eyeing a fall release for “Tutto Bene,” which could also soon surface at a festival. Kim Rossi Stewart (“Crime Novel,” “Angel of Evil”) plays the lead. Pic is produced by Italy’s Palomar, which is owned by France’s Mediawan, in collaboration with Vision Distribution.

Bruni is a prominent Italian screenwriter-turned-director whose directorial debut “Scialla” (“Chill”) went to Venice in 2011 and played well in Germany, as did his more recent  “Tutto Quello Che Vuoi” (“Friends by Chance”) about a young man’s rapport with an elderly poet with Alzheimer’s. Bruni’s writing credits comprise films by Paolo Virzì such as “Human Capital” and hit TV series “Montalbano.”

In “Tutto Bene” the sudden illness of the 46-year-old struggling director, who has also recently divorced, prompts major family issues, including with the protagonist’s father, who reveals a secret, and his two teen-age children.

“It’s not a hospital movie,” said Bruni, adding that the narrative “crisscrosses in time,” even going way back. “There are lots of childhood memories, though it’s not clear if they are real or instead dreams or hallucinations during chemotherapy,” he noted.

DCM managing director Christoph Daniel said they were really struck when they saw “Tutto Bene” in Berlin. “It was just a touching and very universal story, especially the whole family dynamic,” he said, noting that the narrative “is not specific to Italian society.” Daniel added that they “have certain directors and even actors in mind” for the German adaptation that they think “could be a great fit” for what will be the company’s first remake.

DCM has a close rapport with Italian cinema having released titles such as Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty” and “Loro” and produced and distributed Jonas Carpignano’s “Mediterranea” and “A Ciambra.”

Vision Distribution chief Catia Rossi said that she’s been seeing an “an exponential growth in Italy of sales of remake rights, but that they are usually comedies.”

Remakes of Italian movies have been a hot commodity ever since 2016 concept movie “Perfect Strangers,” involving smartphones and personal secrets, got remade in a dozen countries, including Germany.

Rossi noted that all over the world companies are diversifying and shifting from distribution into production and in doing so “they tend to seek out stories that are already written.”