EXCLUSIVE: English-language remake rights to Thomas Vinterberg’s Best International Film Oscar winner Another Round have been acquired after an auction. The film will be developed as a potential star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio and was won in a bid by his and Jennifer Davisson’s Appian Way, Endeavor Content and Brad Weston’s Makeready. The film will be fully funded by Endeavor Content and Makeready.

This was a hotly sought after project, even before the film won Oscar in last night’s ceremony at Union Station. The difference maker here to Vinterberg was the chance to see DiCaprio in a new role, the vulnerable middle aged man in existential crisis played by Mads Mikkelsen.

The film will be produced by Appian Way’s DiCaprio and Davisson, and Brad Weston and Negin Salmasi for Makeready, and Endeavor Content. Appian Way’s Mike Hampton will shepherd the project. They will hire a writer quickly.

Sources said that several tastemaker companies sought the rights, including Studiocanal with The Picture Company and Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker’s Nine Stories, and Elizabeth Banks in a bid with Universal Pictures. The auction, waged by Vinterberg’s ICM Partners reps, unfolded during the final two weeks of the Oscar race that concluded with Vinterberg winning Best International Feature last night.

Vinterberg gave one of the most touching speeches of the evening, dedicating the win to his daughter Ida. She was an inspiration behind the formation of the film and was set to play the daughter of the protagonist (Mikkelsen). Four days into filming, she was killed in a tragic car crash. Vinterberg dedicated the Oscar to her, and now has another opportunity to further honor her legacy. The film won BAFTA and many other honors, and Vinterberg was also Oscar nominated in the Best Director category.

Vinterberg, who wrote the film with Tobias Lindholm under the title Druk, will be executive producer of the remake along with Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Kasper Dissing.

The film involves four teacher pals who are in midlife crisis, who decide to experiment with raising their blood alcohol levels as a way to make life more interesting. While they are initially exacting about their levels, things progressively get out of hand for some of them. The film takes a European look at the consumption of alcohol that makes an English language remake intriguing. Alcohol is not the evil element, it’s more about the choices made by the characters, what it does to them and their families, and how to turn things around.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Rock has made a deal to develop to direct Another Round, based on the 2020 Thomas Vinterberg-directed black comedy that won the Oscar for Best International Film as well as the BAFTA.

The film is an Appian Way and Makeready production for Fifth Season. Jennifer Davisson and Leonardo DiCaprio are producing for Appian Way, and Brad Weston and Collin Creighton are producing for Makeready. Stuart Bloomberg wrote a draft and they will now bring in a new writer to work with Rock.

Rock has made directing a priority, and adds this to a Universal-based adaptation of King: A Life, the Jonathan Eig book about Martin Luther King Jr., along with an untitled script Rock is writing that has Peter Rice producing.