When writer/director Rian Johnson made plans for financing The Brothers Bloom, he decided to go the independent route to insure total creative freedom. He secured financing from Endgame Entertainment. Endgame has financed/co-financed films like Hotel Rowanda, Proof and Harold & Kumar go to White Castle.

Now his sophomore film has its North American distributor.

Summit Entertainment has purchased the North American rights to The Brothers Bloom for a reported eight-figure downside amount. The total worth would increase based on how the film performs at the box office. Summit has also committed millions to promotions for the film. Deals for the foreign rights are expected to be made shortly.

The Brothers Bloom features a loaded cast with Oscar winners Adrien Brody (The Pianist, Hollywoodland) , Rachael Weis (The Mummy, The Constant Garnder), and Maximilian Schell (Judgement at Nuremberg, The Black Hole) as well as Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac, All The Kings Men), Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) and Robbie Coltrane (The Harry Potter films, U.K. version of Cracker).

The film, which was inspired by The Big Con ( the book that was also the inspiration for The Sting) , tells the story of a pair of brothers that are con artists. With one of the brothers looking to go straight, they choose to pull one last con on an unsuspecting heiress (Rachael Weis). This proves more difficult than they anticipated and the heiress ends up joining forces with them on a job.

Anyone that knows me knows how much I loved Johnson’s first film, Brick. It was my favorite film of 2006. While I confess I have not seen TBB, I can’t imagine it being anything less than fantastic with Johnson at the helm of such a talented cast.