EXCLUSIVE: The indie film upstart Quiver Distribution has acquired U.S. rights to Arbitrage writer-director Nicholas Jarecki’s dramatic thriller Crisis. Oscar winner Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer and Evangeline Lilly lead an ensemble cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Lily-Rose Depp, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Duke Nicholson, Veronica Ferres and Martin Donovan. Quiver will release the film in theaters nationwide on February 26, 2021, followed by a digital and on-demand release March 5.
The film will be qualified for inclusion in awards season. Pic sets out to do for the opioid crisis what Traffic did for cocaine and the war on drugs during the crack scourge. In a series of interwoven story lines: a drug trafficker arranges a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation; an architect recovering from an Oxycodone addiction tracks down the truth behind her son’s disappearance; a university professor battles unexpected revelations about his employer, a pharmaceutical company bringing a new “non-addictive” painkiller to market.
“Nick brought his brilliant script to life in this topical and highly entertaining film,” said Quiver co-presidents Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman. “His look at the international drug war through the prism of profiteers, law enforcement, and all those caught in between is a powerful, thrilling story that we’re proud to bring to audiences.”
“The devastating impact of the opioid epidemic reaches all corners of society,” Jarecki said. “Each day brings a new revelation about what corporations, traffickers, and governments knew about the madness all along. I’m grateful to our outstanding cast whose nuanced performances put a human face on this urgent problem that needs our attention now.”
Crisis is Jarecki’s follow to 2012’s Arbitrage, which still remains the highest-grossing independent film to be released day and date, back when that was a thing. The film earned a Golden Globe nomination for Richard Gere.
Jarecki and Cassian Elwes (Dallas Buyers Club) financed Crisis together through Jarecki’s Green Room Films. They shot the film in 2019 and Jarecki edited during the pandemic.
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