Netflix Closing In On $50M+ WW Deal For Emily Blunt Package ‘Pain Hustlers’ With David Yates Directing: Cannes Market Big Splash

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix might have had a bumpy few weeks, but the streamer is poised to strike the first major Cannes deal on a hot market package.

We understand Netflix is closing up a $50M+ world rights deal for Pain Hustlers, with A Quiet Place star Emily Blunt attached for director David Yates (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore).

Pic, introduced to buyers at the Cannes Film Market by The Veterans and CAA Media Finance, is due to begin production in late August.

Pain Hustlers is said to be tonally similar to such films as The Big Short, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street. The film centers on Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, who lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Liza’s charm, guts and drive catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.

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Wells Tower wrote the script. Lawrence Grey will produce under his Grey Matter Productions banner, alongside David Yates and Yvonne Walcott Yates’ Wychwood Pictures. (It was Grey who initially brought the project to Yates in pitch form, thereafter selling it to Sony Pictures.) Lewis Taylor and Ben Everard are executive producing, with Cyrus Mojibi, Patrick Wade, Lawrence Kao and Lloyd Everard serving as co-producers.

Golden Globe winner Blunt’s recent film credits include Jungle Cruise, A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II and Mary Poppins Returns. The actress will also soon be seen in Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer for Universal.

BAFTA winner Yates is best known for directing the last four films in the Harry Potter franchise, as well as all three Fantastic Beasts films. His work for the big screen has grossed more than $6BN dollars worldwide to date. He has also helmed TV series such as State of Play, Sex Traffic and The Way We Live Now.