Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to “Unicorns,” the romance drama co-directed by BAFTA nominee Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and her long-standing collaborator James Krishna Floyd, who starred in both “The Swimmers” and her directorial debut “My Brother the Devil.”
From a script written by Floyd, “Unicorns” is described as a “visually daring and heartfelt portrayal of modern masculinity” and follows a queer South Asian club performer living a double life who meets a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly.The film stars Ben Hardy(“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Love at First Sight”), newcomerJason Patel, Nisha Nayar(“Buddha of Suburbia”),Hannah onslow(“Empire of Light”) andSagar Radia(“Industry”).
“We are thrilled to have Signature bring ‘Unicorns’ to U.K. and Irish cinemas where we know audiences will enjoy our unique, timely, but above all entertaining film,” said El-Hosaini and Floyd.
“Unicorns,” which premiered in Toronto and recently screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival, is aMaven Screen Media, River Road Entertainment and Chromatic Aberration production. The producers arePhilip Herd(“My Policeman,” “We Need to Talk about Kevin”), Trudie Styler(“The Kindergarten Teacher,” “American Honey”),Celine Rattray(“American Honey,” “The Kids Are All Right”),Bill Pohlad(“12 Years a Slave,” “Brokeback Mountain”),Kim Roth(“Sorry to Bother You,”“Mudbound”)andChrista Workman(“David Byrne’s American Utopia,” “Dreamin’ Wild”).Asifa Lahore(“Faces”)co-produced the film and has also been a consultant, andStephen Daldry(“Billy Elliot,” “The Hours”) serves as executive producer.
The deal was negotiated between Elizabeth Williams, Signature Entertainment’s head of acquisitions and TV,and Protagonist Pictures‘ acting head of salesLina Marrone.
“We could immediately tell ‘Unicorns’ was something special with Ben Hardy and Jason Patel’s notable chemistry, and we’re delighted to release this fearless and powerful romance to U.K. and Irish theatrical audiences later this year,” they said in a statement.
