Hulk Star Eric Bana To Self-Distribute Closed Circuit in Australia

Eric Bana, the star of Ang Lee's Hulk and the villain in J.J. Abrams's Star Trek, is putting down some of his own money to distribute his new film Closed Circuit in Australia, Deadline reports. In the film, he stars alongside Iron Man 3's Rebecca Hall as defense lawyers representing a terrorist charged with blowing up London's Borough Market. In the course of their work they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their lives. "We thought there was no reason we couldn't look at distributing boutique releases in our backyard,"  Bana said of Robert Connolly, with whom he's co-distributing. "Robert has navigated those waters before with his company Cinema Plus, and has been extremely involved in securing cinemas and has longstanding relationships with exhibitors here. I have logged many years on the publicity trail, and the relevant outlets know me and I know them. On paper, it's fresh waters, but in reality it isn't really. We can have a level of control, and to us it makes a helluva lot of sense and is something I wish I had done earlier. I have a great relationship with Focus, presented the offer in New York, and James and Andrew liked the idea." James and Andrew, in this case, are James Schamus and Andrew Karpen--who until last week ran Focus Features, home to films like The World's End. They were ousted by parent company Universal, who shuttered the imprint's New York offices and replaced with former Sony exec Peter Schlessel. Jim Broadbent, Julia Stiles and Ciaran Hinds also star in the film, which will be in theaters in Australia December 5.