Steven Soderberghs Bitter Pill lands financing

Endgame Entertainment and 1984 Private Defense Contractors have agreed to finance Steven Soderberghs Bitter Pill,the companies said. Jude Law,Rooney Mara,Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones are in talks to star in the movie,which Open Road Pictures will distribute. Tatum starred in the director8217;s Haywire,for Relativity Media and is the star of and inspiration behind Soderberghs upcoming Magic Mike,about a young male stripper. Lorenzo di Bonaventura,Gregory Jacobs and Scott Z. Burns are producing the movie,which Soderbergh and Burns wrote. The movie,formerly called Side Effects,is about a woman who takes serious amounts of prescription drugs to relieve the anxiety surrounding her husbands upcoming release from prison. Bitter Pill is scheduled to begin shooting in April and will be released in the first half of 2013. Filmnation is handling international sales on behalf of Endgame and will shop the picture at the Berlin Film Festival. 1984 Private Defense Contractors,run by co-chairmen and CEOs Adi Shankar and Spencer Silna,helped produce The Grey,also an Open Road release.

Ben Kingsley joins Enders Game as Mazer Rackham

Ben Kingsley will join Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield in Ender8217;s Game,the films producers announced recently. The Oscar-winning actor will play war hero Mazer Rackham in the adaptation of Orson Scott Cards best-selling novel for Summit Entertainment. It marks a reunion of sorts for Kingsley,who recently starred alongside Butterfield in Martin Scorseses Hugo.

Ender8217;s Game is a futuristic adventure about a young man who is drafted by the military to help save the human race. In addition,Brandon Soo Hoo Tropic Thunder will play a character named Fly Molo. Hailee Steinfeld True Grit and Abigail Breslin Little Miss Sunshine have previously been announced as part of the cast. Gavin Hood X-Men Origins: Wolverine will write and direct the movie. K/O Paper Products,OddLot Entertainment and Digital Domain are production partners on the film. Summit Entertainment is co-financing and will release the movie domestically on March 15,2013.

Production begins next month in New Orleans.