Utopia acquires North America rights to Martin Scorsese-produced 'Pet Shop Days'
Los Angeles, California (Release): Utopia has acquired the North American rights to the thriller 'Pet Shop Days', the debut from Olmo Schnabel. 'Pet Shop Days' premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival and stars Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard, and Emmanuelle Seigner, among others.
Written by Schnabel and Irv, the film is supported by a notable roster of executive producers, including acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Michel Franco ('New Order'), and Jeremy O. Harris ('Slave Play').
Bernal (of Netflix’s 'House of Flowers') plays Alejandro, who flees from his father, Mexican crime lord Castro (Jordi Mollà), and his mother Karla (Maribel Verdu) to New York. There, he meets Jack (Irv), a twenty-something living with his wealthy parents Francis (Willem Dafoe) and Diana (Emmanuelle Seigner) while working in a pet shop. In a haze of endless drugs and sexual rendezvous, Alejandro seduces Jack in a steamy affair in the city’s criminal underbelly.
“I am thrilled that my first feature has found a worthy home with the team at Utopia,” said Schnabel. “Utopia’s history of supporting independent film and emerging filmmakers makes me proud to be the newest member of their family and I am confident they will help bring our project to the right audiences.”
“‘Pet Shop Days' provocative dynamism not only harkens to iconic 90s independent cinema, but flourishes with promise of what the future of auteur filmmaking will look like,” Utopia co-founder Robert Schwartzman said. “Utopia is pleased to collaborate with Schnabel, Scorsese, Franco, O Harris and the rest of the crew on wowing audiences with an unabashedly original NYC tale.”