Salma Hayek and Shohreh Aghdashloo are attached to star in The Septembers of Shiraz, Millennium Films’ adaptation of a novel by Dalia Sofer.
Wayne Blair, who last helmed The Sapphires, is directing the drama, which is quietly being sold at Berlin’s EFM.
Gerard Butler is producing with Alan Siegel and Heidi Jo Markel.
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The thriller is based on actual events (Sofer was 10 years old when her own family escaped Iran) and tells the story of a Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in 1981 Iran. The story centers on an imprisoned gem dealer, his despairing wife, their daughter — whose playmate’s father is in the charge of the prison — and their New York-based son as they try to come together and escape the deadly tyranny.
Hayek will play the mother while Aghdashloo is the family’s housekeeper, whose son used to work for the gem dealer but is not part of the Revolutionary Guard.
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Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, John Thompson, and Mark Gill are exec producing and the team is eyeing a production start in April 2014.
Hayek, repped by CAA, Management 360 and Edelstein Laird, will be seen in Muppets Most Wanted and last co-starred in Grown-Ups 2.
The Oscar-nominated Aghdashloo currently recurs on NBC’s Grimm. She is repped by CAA, Round Table Entertainment and Felker Toczek.
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