Atom Egoyan's Chloe goes commercial with Moore, Neeson

photo by Alliance Atlantis, Canwest News Service

As much as we love his films, few English-language directors seem quite as anti-commercial as Atom Egoyan. But Studiocanal seems to think that he may find an audience this time out, because it's fully funding his next picture. Perhaps it's because this is coming through fellow Canadian Ivan Reitman and his Montecito Picture Company label; those Canadians do like to stick together.

Egoyan may also have found funding because the picture sounds far more bankable than most of his works. Said to be a "smart, sexy thriller," Chloe will star Julianne Moore as a doctor who tests her husband's (Liam Neeson) fidelity by hiring an escort to seduce him. "It's a really intelligent script," Egoyan told the ~~Vancouver Sun~~ Victoria Times Colonist (thanks for the correction, Michael!). "It's incredible because the prostitute comes back with these amazing erotic stories about a man his wife thought she knew. She gets addicted to them and they enter into a complicated relationship."

Liam Neeson's involvement is said to have been instrumental in getting the film funded, and also led to Moore's interest. Jason Reitman, director of Juno, is executive producer for the film, which will begin shooting on Feb. 9 in Toronto. Meanwhile, his most recent film, Adoration, should finally make its way into theaters this May.

Got a news tip for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.