Michael Gambon, Alfred Molina Sign on for Ira Sachs' LOVE IS STRANGE

Related: LOVE IS STRAINGE, Michael Gambon, Alfred Molina, Ira Sachs

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Parts & Labor announced today that Sir Michael Gambon and Alfred Molina will star in LOVE IS STRANGE, Independent Spirit Award Nominee Ira Sachs's newest feature. Production is slated to begin in New York City this summer.

Gambon and Molina play Ben and George, a couple who after 28 years together, finally marry at a City Hall wedding in Manhattan. On return from their honeymoon, however, Ben gets fired from his job as a choir director for a Catholic high school. With not enough money to stay in their small apartment, the two are forced to move in, separately, with a nephew and his family in Brooklyn, and the two gay cops next door.

A multi-generational story of love and marriage, LOVE IS STRANGE depicts the delicate nature of any two people trying to build a long life together, and the possibility of love to grow deeper, and richer, with time.

Gambon can currently be seen theatrically in Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman and distributed by The Weinstein Company. His films include Peter Greenway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover, Gosford Park, The Life Aquatic, and Professor Dumbledore inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and all subsequent installments of the Harry Potter series.

Molina's latest film, Emanuel and the Truth About the Fishes, directed by Francesca Gregorina, premieres in Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. His diverse gallery of performances include roles in An Education, Spider Man 2, Boogie Nights, Coffee and Cigarettes, Prick Up Your Ears, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Frida, where for his performance as Diego Rivera he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from the British Academy Award (BAFTA). He is currently starring in the TNT series "Monday Mornings" written and produced by David E. Kelly, which will launch in February.

Sachs, whose latest feature Keep the Lights On premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, is currently nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actor (Thure Lindhardt) and Best Screenplay. He co-wrote LOVE IS STRANGE with Lights' Mauricio Zacharias. His previous films include Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Forty Shades of Blue, and Married Life, with Chris Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan, and Patricia Clarkson.

Sachs said: "In the wake of the personal events depicted in Keep the Lights On, I've discovered that all love doesn't have to be so painful. Love Is Strange is my first pure love story, depicting the possibility of love to blossom and grow richer with time. Molina and Gambon will be amazing as the couple at the center of the film, bringing great depth and heart to this highly emotional story, and relationship."

Sachs is a producer of LOVE IS STRANGE, along with Parts & Labor partners, Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy (Beginners, The Loneliest Planet), as well as Lucas Joaquin (Keep the Lights On, Beasts of the Southern Wild). Parts & Labor currently have three films in competition at Sundance: David Lowery's film Ain't Them Bodies Saints, starring Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster; photojournalist Shaul Schwarz's documentary Narco Cultura; and Andrew Dosunmu's second feature Mother of George. Love Is Strange will be a continuation of a long-standing creative partnership between the four NYC-based Producers that began in 2004 with Sachs's Forty Shades of Blue. Paris-based Co-Producers are Janja Kralj of Kinoelektron and Adam Leibovitz of Crescendo Films.

Michael Gambon is repped by Clifford Stevens at Paradigm and Paul Lyon-Maris at Independent Talent Group. Alfred Molina is repped by Duncan Millership and Michelle Bohan at WME, Lou Coulson of Lou Coulson Associates, and Joan Hyler at Hyler Management. Sachs is repped by Craig Kestel and Brian Swardstrom at WME, and Paul Brennan at Bruns, Brennan, Berry Law.

Sir Michael Gambon started his career with the Edwards/Macliammoir Gate Theatre in Dublin. He joined The National Theatre for its inaugural season under Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic in 1963 and appeared there in Hamlet among other productions. His extensive work on TV includes the title role in the Dennis Potter series THE SINGING DETECTIVE. He was awarded a KBE in the Queen's Honor List in 1998.

Alfred Molina is a London-born actor who has created a highly diverse and distinguishEd Gallery of performances for film, television and the stage. He has received Tony Award Nominations for Fiddler On The Roof, Yasmina Reza's Art, and Red, for his towering performance as the artist Mark Rothko. Mr. Molina is also being honored in Sundance by the Creative Coalition with their Spotlight Award for his work in independent films. His new series Monday Mornings, created by David E. Kelley, launches February 4th on TNT.

In addition to three Sundance 2013 Competition titles, Parts & Labor has produced nearly two dozen feature films, including Mike Mills' Beginners (Christopher Plummer, winner 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Ira Sachs's Keep the Lights On, (Teddy Award, 2012 Berlin Film Festival), Julia Loktev's The Loneliest Planet, Braden King's Here, Cam Archer's Shit Year, Aaron Katz's Cold Weather, David Barker's Daylight, Nik Fackler'sLovely, Still and Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy. The company is currently in pre-production on Brent Hoff's Dirty White Boy, which will star Michael K. Williams as late hip-hop artist Ol' Dirty Bastard.