The Last Station to get a distributor?

It isn't official yet, but it sounds like it's happening:

Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, James McAvoy and Paul Giamatti are going to try to shake up the awards season. Look for their new film, "The Last Station" -- written and directed by Michael Hoffman and based on the final months in the life of Leo Tolstoy, which premiered sans distribution at the Telluride Film Festival on Sept. 4 -- to be released by the specialty division of a major studio (with a slew of other art house contenders already this year including three more Best Actress possibilities) and opened in December in order to qualify for the Academy Awards.

Although acting would seem to be the strongest calling card for "Last Station's" late entry into the season, don't discount the possibility of a long shot Best Picture nod as well, especially with 10 slots to fill and a weak field -- so far at least. The film is probably too traditional to score in many precursor critics awards presentations, but it's just the right type of extremely well-made flick that scores points with older Golden Globe and Academy voters. In fact the Globes should be a key early target for the film's campaign consultants. [The Envelope]

Kris Tapley from In Contention believes that Sony Pictures Classics will be the distributor. According to Taply, "no other specialty division has a 'slew' of titles, let alone a 'slew of other art house contenders,' so it’s probably a safe assumption that Michael Barker and Tom Bernard made the leap":

And it fits. Bernard was curious what people thought of the film in Telluride, and he told me, “We might buy it,” at the time. That’s obviously neither here nor there, but I got the vibe — and I certainly wasn’t alone here — that Sony Classics would make a nice home for the film.

It was also announced on Friday that The Last Station is included in the Rome Film Festival lineup and will be in competition. The festival starts on October 15 and ends on October 23. Triage, which stars Scottish actor Jamie Sives will open the festival. Tickets are now on sale and you can go here for more information on booking tickets.

Source
Source
Source