Love, wine and angels in Auckland

Whale Rider director Niki Caro’s new project has made its first pre-sales. The Vintner’s Luck, Caro’s much-anticipated adaptation of the novel by Elizabeth Knox, has sold to Icon in the UK, Dendy in NZ and Australia, and Ascot Elite in Switzerland. “This was such a beautiful script – both moving and profound – and the material could not be in better hands,” said Icon’s president of acquisitions, Mark Gooder. Dendy general manager Andrew Mackie described the screenplay by Caro and Joan Scheckel as “simply one of the best scripts we have ever read”. The Vintner’s Luck stars Jérémie Renier (The Child), Gaspard Ulliel (Young Hannibal), Vera Farmiga (The Departed) and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider). Pre-production begins in Auckland at the end of the year.