Cannes: Sony Pictures Classics Buys Michael Covino’s ‘The Climb’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all worldwide rights, excluding France and German-speaking Europe, to Michael Angelo Covino’s buddy comedy “The Climb.”

The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Un Certain Regard Heart Prize alongside “A Brother’s Love” on Friday.

Covino directed, co-wrote (with Kyle Marvin) and stars in the film with Marvin, Gayle Rankin, Talia Balsam, George Wendt and Judith Godrèche.

The story centers on two best friends who share a close bond — until one sleeps with the other’s fiancée. The movie follows the tumultuous, but enduring relationship between the men across many years of laughter, heartbreak and rage.

Topic Studios (“Leave No Trace,” “Spotlight”) produced and financed the movie. The producers are Noah Lang, Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin. The executive producers are Michael Bloom, Ryan Heller Adam Pincus and Gilda Moratti.

“To know my first movie will open with the same logo as so many of my favorites is hard to fathom,” Covino said. “I can’t wait to work with Tom, Michael and the entire Sony Classics team to share it with the world.”

The deal was negotiated by Endeavor Content and Memento Films International on behalf of the filmmakers.