CAA Signs Director of Toronto Hit 'Sleepless Night' (Exclusive)

Yesterday Warner Bros. closed a deal to remake the French action thriller Sleepless Night.

Now, Frederic Jardin, who directed and co-wrote the movie that premiered during TIFF’s Midnight Madness, has signed with CAA for representation.

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Night was one of the hits from Midnight Madness, and in a Die Hard meets Taken tone, follows a cop who, for all intents and purposes, is trapped in a pulsating nightclub trying to save his kidnapped son and locate a missing duffel bag filled with cocaine while being pursued by various drug dealers and Internal Affairs detectives. But despite all the action in the movie, Jardin focus was to make a film about fatherhood.

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And after securing a complicated co-production agreement, shot the film using Canon 5-D cameras (which are photo cameras, not film cameras) in France, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Even before the movie finished screening, studios were lining up to grab remake rights, with Warners and producer Roy Lee ending up on top.

CAA had a strong showing at this year’s Midnight Madness. It made the sale for You’re Next, the horror movie that sold to Lionsgate after intense interest, and this week signed Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, the film’s director and writer, for representation.