Pyramide acquires 'Killer Joe' for France

PARIS -- Pyramide Films has acquired French rights to William Friedkin's Venice Competition hit "Killer Joe." Sold by Voltage Pictures, which also produced with ANA Media Inc., "Joe" stars Matthew McConaughey as a seemingly by-the-book Dallas detective who's hired by a feckless drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) to kill his mother for a $50,000 insurance policy. A crime thriller-come-black comedy with memorable violence, "Joe" scored top marks in a Venice critics' poll. Liddell Ent. has U.S. distrib rights. For French critics and auds, "Joe" has many things going for it: A New Hollywood director whose ability to make multi-prized films within the Hollywood system -- "The Exorcist," "The French Connection" -- ranks him as a serious auteur; film noir overtones, which appeal to the only country in Europe with its own strong film noir tradition. " 'Joe' is a bit out-there. Some scenes can achieve cult-status. French critics should love it," said Pyramide prexy Eric Lagesse. One of France's top arthouse labels, Pyramide has also acquired French distribution and foreign rights to "Here Below," from Jean-Pierre Denis, a Cannes Camera d'Or winner ("Adrien's Story") whose latest movie, "Murderous Maids," played Berlin's Panorama. Preeming at the 14th Unifrance Paris Rendez-Vous, which begins Wednesday, tragic drama "Below," based on true events, toplines fast-rising actress Celine Sallette ("House of Tolerance," "Rust and Bone") as a nun who falls for a French Resistance fighter. The story of "increasingly desperate, destructive love," in Denis' words, bows on around 50 prints in France Jan. 18. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com