Will Jason Statham, Rachel Zegler Films Spark Bidding Wars?

As Cannes kicks off, Hollywood’s getting ready for another round of “let’s make a deal,” Cote d’Azur style.

If things go according to sales agents’ plans, the bidding wars will flow as freely as the rosé. But if studios arrive feeling skittish about spending money, not even that famous French sunshine will heat up an ice cold marketplace.

On paper, there’s plenty of projects and packages that seem promising. They range from action thrillers to war dramas and tearjerkers, and feature A-listers like Rami Malek, Alicia Vikander, Jeremy Strong, Matthew McConaughey and Jason Statham. Here’s a look at nine films that could have buyers reaching for their checkbook.

“The Man I Love”
Cast: Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge, Luther Ford, Rebecca Hall and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
Director: Ira Sachs
Agency: WME Independent, MK2
Why Buyers Care: Arthouse vet Sachs returns with this devastating look at a downtown artist (Malek) dying of AIDS, who still believes he has one great performance and romance left in him. The cast is top-shelf and Malek has the kind of showy role that could put him in the awards conversation for the first time since winning an Oscar for 2018’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But it’s Ford, best known for playing Prince Harry in “The Crown,” who may have people talking with his breakout turn as the object of Malek’s affection.

“John Doe”
Cast: Jason Statham
Director: David Ayer
Agency: Black Bear, Miramax
Why Buyers Care: Statham is back kicking ass and taking names as an amnesiac killing machine. Yes, we’ve heard this tale before (“The Bourne Identity,” anyone?), but the action-thriller is being directed by Ayer, who partnered with Statham on hits like “The Beekeeper” and “A Working Man.” If a formula works, why not repeat it…and repeat it…and repeat it?

“Last Dance”
Cast: Adrien Brody, Rachel Zegler, Ben Platt
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Agency: FilmNation
Why Buyers Care: The family drama is based on an autobiographical New Yorker article by Emily Ziff Griffin and marks Brody’s first screen role since winning the Oscar for “The Brutalist.” It also comes after Zegler picked up an Olivier Award for “Evita,” the London stage sensation soon to make its way across the Atlantic to Broadway. And the story sounds like a heartbreaker, following a composer Elliot (Brody) who invites his daughter Emma (Zegler) on a gay cruise through the Caribbean in 1991 at the height of the AIDS crisis. Platt will write original music for the film, in addition to appearing in a supporting part and Zegler will lend her vocal talents to the project.

“The Passenger”
Cast: Jeremy Strong
Director: Magnus von Horn
Agency: FilmNation
Why Buyers Care: The adaptation of a 1938 novel of the same name by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, is being billed as an escape thriller, but it seems eerily prescient. Strong, hot off “The Apprentice” and soon to put his spin on Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Reckoning,” has been tapped to play a businessman forced to flee Berlin after Kristallnacht. Von Horn’s last film, “The Girl with the Needle,” was nominated for an Oscar for best international feature. This historical tale, which will premiere as authoritarianism is on the rise, could raise his profile even higher.

“Avedon”
Director: Ron Howard
Agency: Fifth Season
Why Buyers Care: Howard may be best known for blockbusters like “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind,” but in recent years he’s become a skilled documentarian, peeling back the curtain on everyone from José Andrés to The Beatles. He’s got a fascinating subject in Avedon, perhaps the most famous and influential 20th century photographer, and to tell his story he’ll have unprecedented access to the artist’s personal archives, as well as interviews with his friends and collaborators. “Avedon” will premiere at the festival, and it sounds exactly like the kind of celebrity portrait that the man himself excelled at capturing — a snapshot of a legend that reveals the human being beneath the iconography.

“Brigands of Battlecreek”
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal, Tang Wei
Director: Park Chan-wook
Agency: WME, Patrick Wachsberger’s 193
Why Buyers Care: Director Park, the president of this year’s grand jury at Cannes, enters the market with this package a WGA-expat and renegade with his starriest cast ever. The combined twangs of McConaughey and Butler will likely be irresistible to buyers, plus there’s the added power of Marvel hero and internet boyfriend Pascal and “Lust Caution” breakout Wei. “Brigands” is a Western revenge fantasy as only this director could tell it – exploring “the consequences of violence, the value of family, the power of memory, and the true cost of life.” Not sure what all that means, but we’re here for it!

“Club Kid”
Cast: Jordan Firstman, Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva
Director: Jordan Firstman        
Agency: UTA
Why Buyers Care: Firstman straddles (a term he would love) the line between art house cool and foamy pop influence as both an actor and personality. The indie world is waiting with anticipation as he steps up not only in a more dramatic role, but as a feature director. Early word is he sticks the landing, and in a familiar space – playing a NYC club promoter who’s stayed a bit too long at the party, especially when the son he didn’t know he fathered shows up.

“Dernsie”
Cast: Bruce Dern, Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne, Billy Bob Thornton, Walton Goggins, Patty Jenkins, Will Forte, Laura Dern
Director: Mike Mendez
Agency: UTA
Why Buyers Care: The math is simple here, as 89-year-old screen legend Dern opens up about a turbulent, but rewarding life and career in Hollywood. A stacked ensemble of talking heads, including his Oscar-winning daughter, add even more color to this look at a maverick luminary.

“Bulls”
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Lewis Pullman, Kaia Gerber
Director: Shane Morosini
Agency: UTA, Manifest Pictures
Why Buyers Care: O’Brien has finally seemed to shake off his YA heartthrob days, delivering commanding performances in a string of recent films like “Ponyboi,” “Twinless” and “Send Help.” Paired with two buzzy stars – real life couple Pullman and Gerber – this erotic thriller package should appeal to the Cannes market’s baser instincts. It follows a wallflower (O’Brien) who travels to a hedonistic resort, unwittingly becoming the obsession of a dangerous husband and wife.

“Later the War”
Cast: Channing Tatum, Tessa Thompson, Patsy Ferran
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Agency: CAA
Why Buyers Care: Irreverent indie king Kaufman, the man behind “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” has always paired top talent with surrealist concepts, and this one looks like a perfect storm of his singular directing sensibility and ability to lure marquee names. Tatum proved in last year’s “Roofman” he could handle roles that don’t exclusively require easy smiles and no shirt. In this market package, he’s set to star as a popcorn actor-director looking to prove he’s got more substance – by making a film about the Holocaust.

“The Last Day”
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Wagner Moura, Victoria Pedretti
Director: Rachel Rose
Agency: CAA
Why Buyers Care: Up-and-coming director Rose (“Tryst,” “Are You Hungry?”) delivers what seems to be an overdue comeback for Oscar winner Vikander, in a story inspired by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.” Over one summer day in New York, a mother and writer (Vikander) grappling with grief and stagnation confronts her life choices. Increased star power from “The Secret Agent” star Moura, and genre player Pedretti, won’t hurt in attracting buyers.