'Julia' climbs to the Summit

Revenge tale set in 1930s London to bow in U.S. Oct. 15

By ADAM DAWTREY, CATHY DUNKLEY

In a surprise last-minute switch just before Cannes, Istvan Szabo's "Being Julia," starring Annette Bening, has flipped from Myriad Pictures to Summit Entertainment for international sales. Producer Robert Lantos of Serendipity Point Films decided to take the pic away from Myriad over the weekend, even though the company was screening it only last week to buyers in Paris and Rome.

Move follows Myriad's recent announcement that it is shutting down its London office and will henceforth run all its sales and distribution operations from its Los Angeles HQ.

Sources say "Being Julia" had been officially completed, but that Lantos has decided to do some more work on the soundtrack.

Summit topper Patrick Wachsberger confirms that his company is repping the movie, which was pre-sold to Sony Pictures Classics for English-speaking territories at last year's Cannes.

Pic, which shot last summer and is likely to premiere at Venice or Toronto film fests, is a tale of amorous folly and revenge, set in the London theater world of the 1930s. It co-stars Jeremy Irons, Michael Gambon and Bruce Greenwood. Ronald Harwood penned the adaptation from W. Somerset Maugham's novel.

The U.S. release is set for Oct. 15.

Meanwhile, Summit has already inked a couple of key territorial sales on additions to its slate, including "The Dark," starring Sean Bean and Mario Bello, and "Alibi," starring Steve Coogan and Rebecca Romijn.