Damien Chazelle Sells Black List Script ‘The Claim’ for Release in 2018

Scott Clayton’s Oceanside Media has optioned movie rights to the mystery thriller “The Claim,” written by “La La Land” writer-director Damien Chazelle.

Clayton will produce the movie alongside Route One Entertainment’s Russell Levine and Leon Clarance of Motion Picture Capital. Clarance’s Motion Picture Capital will fully finance the film, slated to begin production this year. Producers said they are in discussions with an unidentified U.S. distributor to release the film in 2018.

The thriller, which made the Black List in 2010, centers on a single father with a criminal background who must uncover the whereabouts of his kidnapped daughter while fighting the mysterious claims of another couple who insist that the child is theirs.

“I am excited to be partnering with Route One and Motion Picture Capital to produce this amazing project from Damien Chazelle,” Clayton said. “He has written a mesmerizing and bone-chilling thriller confirming his talent as a truly versatile screenwriter. We look forward to bringing this haunting film to audiences around the world.”

Chazelle won the Academy Award for directing “La La Land” and was nominated in the original screenplay category. He was also nominated in 2015 for Best Adapted Screenplay for another Black List honoree, “Whiplash.”

He is next directorial effort, “First Man,” stars Ryan Gosling as astronaut pioneer Neil Armstrong. The biopic is scheduled to make its theatrical debut on Oct. 12, 2018.

Jay Stern and Chip Diggins are also producers on “The Claim,” which Chip Diggins first brought into Route One. Chris Lytton and Motion Picture Capital’s Laure Vaysse will serve as exec producers and Route One’s Sophia Dilley will co-produce.

Oceanside Media has a production credit on “Lone Survivor.” Route One’s recent films include “The Circle,” starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson; “Tallulah,” starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney; “Colossal,” starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis; and “Landline,” starring Jenny Slate, John Turturro and Edie Falco.

Motion Picture Capital’s recent film slate which includes “Kodachrome,” starring Jason Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olsen and Ed Harris; “Steel Country,” a U.S.-set thriller starring Andrew Scott and Denise Gough; and U.K. drama “Hampstead,” starring Diane Keaton and Brendon Gleeson.

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