Soderbergh KOs IFB for €600k

This may not be fresh news but... in a decision made pre-Christmas (Dec 16) the Irish Film Board committed €600,000 to Knockout, a Steven Soderbergh project written by Lem (Kitaj) Dobbs. Soderbergh and Dobbs previously worked together on The Limey and Kafka.

The lead company on Knockout is Relativity Media with distribution through Lionsgate. The Irish co-producer cited by the IFB is Parallel Films.

The decision comes under the IFB's "Fiction Creative Co-production" heading, which may suggest that there is some payback coming to Ireland for giving €600,000 to a US production. Will Relativity back a Parallel project in return? The only obvious Irish connection to the project is the casting of Michael Fassbender.

UPDATE: Jan 19 - local press are reporting that Knockout will shoot in Dublin and Wicklow for three weeks from February 2nd. Belfast DJ and regular Soderbergh collaborator David Holmes will be doing the score.

€600,000 is one of the largest commitments the IFB has made under the "Fiction Creative Co-production" scheme. Incidentally, the only other feature drama awarded funding on Dec 16, The Essence Of Killing, was also funded through this scheme. The Essence Of Killing has another well-known director at the helm, Jerzy Skolimowski, and the film is being co-produced by Element Pictures. It has an offer of €250,000.

A UK/Spain/Germany/Ireland co-production, La Mula, was offered €500,000 through the same scheme towards the end of 2008. The film was in its final week of production in Spain last November when an delayed contractual issue relating to the Spanish participation caused director Michael Radford (also a producer) to leave the shoot.

La Mula also received significant public funding from the UK Film Council (£104,673 devpt + £1,092,437 prodn) and Eurimages (€650,000). The Irish co-production company, Subotica Entertainment, became involved in the project subsequent to the Eurimages decision on July 2, 2008.

Movie geeks will recall that IFB CEO Simon Perry produced three of Radford's previous films - Another Time, Another Place, 1984 and White Mischief.

The most recent IFB decisions in respect of indigenous features (Nov 24) are My Brothers (Dir Paul Fraser, Rubicon Films) €525,000 (not incl. Regional Support); Back to Jack (Dir Kirsten Sheridan, Subotica/Blindside) €600,000; and Day of Rest (Dir Brian O'Malley, Parallel) €800,000.

My Brothers was shot on location in Cork from late November until before Christmas. The film is produced by Rebecca O'Flanagan and Rob Walpole through Rubicon and is funded by the IFB, Windmill Lane and RTE. Crew includes PJ DIllon (DOP), Mark Geraghty (Prodn Desn) and Emer Reynolds (Ed).