Picture Tree Picks Up Malin Akerman’s ‘A Piece of My Heart’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Leo Barraclough

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Berlin-based sales company Picture Tree has picked up international rights for musical drama “A Piece of My Heart,” with Malin Akerman, who starred alongside Dwayne Johnson in “Rampage” and Damian Lewis in “Billions.” Variety has been given the first-look image from the film.

The film, directed by Edward af Sillén, also stars Jonas Karlsson, with music by Tomas Ledin. “Piece” is about Isabella, a hot shot within the Stockholm finance world who returns to her hometown. She feels like a winner compared to her old classmates, being the only one who actually made something of herself.

Isabella’s confidence is shaken when she realizes that Simon, her big teenage crush, is marrying her childhood friend Molly. Isabella is used to getting what she wants, and seeing Simon so happy with somebody else bothers her.

Akerman started out as a model before appearing in TV series “Earth: Final Conflict.” Her breakthrough role was as Silk Spectre II in “Watchmen.” Other credits include “The Ticket,” “Misconduct,” “I’ll See You in My Dreams” and “27 Dresses.”

“A Piece of My Heart,” which is produced by Patrick Ryborn for Unlimited Stories, is shooting now, and is set for a Christmas release in 2019 in Sweden by TrustNordisk, with a festival premiere anticipated for fall 2019.

Picture Tree is presenting the first sequences from the film at AFM. Its AFM slate also includes Polish horror-fantasy “Dark, Almost Night,” German comedy “100 Things” and Henry James adaptation “The Beast in the Jungle,” all of which are having private screenings at the market. The company also has the market premieres of Swedish box office hit “Kingdom of Sweden,” and all-female zombie thriller “Endzeit — Ever After,” which bowed in Toronto.