EXCLUSIVE: All Quiet on the Western Front helmer Edward Berger and Elvis Oscar nominee Austin Butler are out to the town with The Barrier, a hot time-travel package that is expected to spur competitive bidding, sources tell Deadline.
Plot details for the film, based on a short story by MacMillan Hedges, are under wraps, though we hear it’s been discussed as Interstellar meets Top Gun. Berger will direct from a script by Hedges and produce alongside the scribe, with Butler to star and executive produce. The package hit the market Wednesday, as a big buzz title heading into Thanksgiving, with top executives around town asking to meet and hear the take.
After seeing his Netflix WWI epic All Quiet on the Western Front snap up four Oscars, including Best International Feature Film, the German-born Berger has emerged as one of the most sought-after directors around town. He’s in the current awards race with Conclave, his Ralph Fiennes-led papal thriller for Focus Features, which adapts the 2016 novel by Robert Harris. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini are among the other stars of the film, which hit U.S. theaters at the end of October after launching out of Telluride.
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Meanwhile, Berger is in post-production in The Ballad of a Small Player, a gambling drama starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton, on which he’s reteamed with Netflix.
Currently shooting Darren Aronofsky’s Sony thriller Caught Stealing, based on Charlie Huston’s book, Butler’s slate this year has included a scene-stealing villain turn opposite Timothée Chalamet in Dune: Part Two, Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders opposite Tom Hardy and Apple TV+’s event series Masters of the Air. Upcoming, he’ll be seen starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone in Ari Aster’s Eddington for A24.
Up-and-comer Hedges made the Black List twice with his scripts The Searchers and Cosmic Sunday. He sold the sci-fi tentpole spec Relay to producer Neal H. Moritz and has the film Tilt in development with Chernin.
Berger is represented by CAA, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in the UK, Range Media Partners, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Butler is repped by WME, Anonymous Content, and Sloane Offer Weber & Dern. Hedges is with WME, Entertainment 360, and Granderson Des Rochers.
Austin Butler-Edward Berger Package ‘The Barrier’ Hits The Hollywood Market
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