Andy Garcia’s Crime Drama ‘Diamond’ Lands at Sony Pictures Classics

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to “Diamond,” a noir crime drama from Andy Garcia that debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Garcia wrote and directed “Diamond” in addition to starring as Joe Diamond, a mysterious man with a traumatic past whose uncanny powers of observation allow him to solve crimes the LAPD cannot. Along with Garcia, Vicky Krieps, Brendan Fraser, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman, Demián Bichir and LaTanya Richardson Jackson round out the starry cast. “Diamond” has been a long-gestating passion project for Garcia, who also composed an original score with his longtime collaborator Arturo Sandoval.

“I’ve been working on this story for close to 20 years,” Garcia said. “This is not unusual for personal films in the independent world. Stories take time to unfold. They haunt you, as you continue to work on them. When they are ready, in their own time, the movie gods open the window of opportunity. Perhaps we exhaust them with our persistence and that great obstacle is overcome by the dream. So they give up and bless you with this extraordinary cast to tell your story. Dreams sometimes do come true. As Joe Diamond the protagonist in our story states. ‘Dreams are a way of escaping your reality, unless those dreams are your reality.'”

Sony Pictures Classics has not set a release date. The distribution pact does not include France, Germany, Italy, CIS.

Sony Pictures Classics described “Diamond” as “one of those great Phillip Marlowe private eye crime mysteries of the past, full of surprises, filled with colorful, rich characters,” adding that “audiences will love it.” 

“Diamond” was produced Garcia’s company CineSon, as well as Jai Stefan for Shrink Media, Frank Mancuso Jr. for FGM Entertainment and Paul Soriano from Black Cap Pictures / Ten17P. The film was financed and executive produced by Black Cap Pictures and Nexis Entertainment. Executive producers include John Ahn, Wendy Lee, and Nino Cuccinello, along with Oscura Film’s Marco Vicini and Fernando Tsai.  

The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers, with The Veterans overseeing international rights.