Loft

The international career of Flemish thriller Loft (pictured) is clearly a source of satisfaction to screenwriter Bart De Pauw. After a Dutch remake in 2010, an American version is due to arrive in cinemas later this year. 'It's quite a compliment for me that the story is international enough to make sense, that an American audience can relate to it,' he says.

Text Ian Mundell

However it's the original version of the story, about five men who keep a secret apartment for their love affairs, which remains his favourite. 'The others are interesting variations, but my heart belongs to the one we made,' he says. 'For me it's more subtle, more profound. It's exactly what I imagined.'

On a muggy morning in New Orleans in late May, Flemish filmmaker Erik Van Looy is making last minute preparations for the production of his first American movie, Loft.

Text: Geoffrey Macnab

The $15 million film, due to shoot in early June, is a US remake of Van Looy’s own 2008 runaway hit Belgian movie Loft, which posted a staggering 1.2 million admissions in its home territory. It’s the story of a group of philandering male friends who share a spacious loft in which they secretly entertain their lovers and latest conquests. All works well… until a dead body turns up in their midst. Steve Golin’s Anonymous Content has come on board to produce the film, which is being sold to international distributors by Sierra/Affinity. Several top young American actors are in the ensemble cast, among them Wentworth Miller (Prison Break), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), Patrick Wilson (Watchmen) and James Marsden (X-Men).

Matthias Schoenaerts, the star of Michaël R Roskam's Bullhead, joins Wentworth Miller (Prison Break), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), Patrick Wilson (The A-Team), James Marsden (X-Men) and others in Erik Van Looy's US version of his 2008 indigenous mega-hit Loft. Nicolas Karakatsanis, DOP of Bullhead, also signed up for the remake on which principal photography is set to start on 6 June in New Orleans.

Schoenaerts is cast as Filip, the role he also played in the original version of Loft. It was director Erik Van Looy who played with the idea of casting the young actor after  seeing Bullhead, and suggested it to the film's American producers. The director was equally impressed by Nicolas Karakatsanis' lensing forBullhead and also contacted him for Loft.

Wentworth Miller and Eric Stonestreet have been added to the cast of the $15 million US remake of Erik Van Looy's Loft. Produced by Anonymous Content, principal photography is expected to start 6 June in New Orleans.

Miller (Prison Break) and Stonestreet (Modern Family, Almost Famous) join such names as Patrick Wilson (The A-Team) and James Marsden (X-Men). They will star in the story about five married men who share a secret: a spacious loft in which they can quietly receive and entertain their lovers and latest conquests. It’s a great deal until, one morning, the body of a young woman is discovered by one of them. No one knows who she is or how she got there. When the five try to find out what happened and why, they soon begin to suspect one another. It also becomes clear that they know far less about each other than they initially thought.

Director Erik Van Looy is set to direct the remake of his original 2008 box office hit Loft. Anonymous Content's Steve Golin, Paul Green, Matt DeRoss and Adam Shulman will produce along with Hilde DeLaere of Belgium’s Woestijnvis, the producer of the original. Wesley Strick will adapt the original screenplay by Van Looy and Bart De Pauw.

Loft follows five married friends who decide to rent a loft together where they can bring their mistresses. When the body of an unknown woman is found in the loft, they realise that they don't know each other as well as they thought and begin to suspect one another of murder.