Phil Lord & Christopher Miller Tap Aditya Sood To Spearhead Growing Film Ambitions As Studios Court Them For Overall Movie Deal
EXCLUSIVE: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have hired well regarded production executive Aditya Sood to become head of film for their Lord Miller banner. The move to secure the former Genre Films president comes at a key moment for filmmakers coming off the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Later this month, they will meet with all the major studios before deciding where to make their first overall movie deal. This comes after the duo set their TV operations at Sony Pictures Television in an epic-sized five-year deal last April.
Soods challenge will be to lead their motion picture group ambitions, with an emphasis on developing original and existing IP projects and championing fresh voices. Sood will lead a motion picture group staff that includes longtime film executives Will Allegra and Rebecca Karch who have been upped to Senior Vice President and Vice President, respectively.
The Sood hiring seemed destined to happen at some point. Miller first met Sood when they were 6 years old, when they began making films together. The three have been close friends for nearly 25 years since Miller introduced Sood and Lord during a college trip to Italy.
“Aditya was the one person we knew in the movie business before we moved to Los Angeles,” Lord & Miller told Deadline. “Hes the person who made it seem possible and we have believed in him and rooted for him our entire lives. His commitment to the art of filmmaking and impeccable taste are only secondary to the character he conducts himself with. And its Lord Millers good fortune to work closely with someone we respect and admire so much.”
Said Sood: “I couldnt be more excited to join forces with Chris and Phil. Whether its re-imagining franchises or finding gold in material that no one else can spot, I cant think of more creative, funnier or better humans to work with than these two guys.”
Sood did a lot of that during his successful run as president of Simon Kinbergs Genre Films. Sood produced the Best Picture nominated Ridley Scott-directed adaptation of the Andy Weir novel The Martian, which the exec found and brought in to the company. He was executive producer on the blockbuster Deadpool films and also Murder on the Orient Express. He is also producing with Kinberg Artemis, an adaptation of the Weir novel that has Lord & Miller attached to direct. Projects that Sood produced at Genre grossed over $2.7 billion in global box office. He was also active on Genres TV side, exec producing the series Designated Survivor, which is currently in its third season for Netflix.
Deadline
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