THE LOVERS

The Lovers

Formally known as Singularity, this Roland Joffé directed film was in development since the 90’s and began filming in 2010 and was plagued by financial problems that derailed the film for years. The Lovers was financed by the Belgian company Corsan, which covered $13.65 million of the expenses through a fund they operate called Film Finance IV and set up numerous creditors to front the costs of the estimated $33 million budget, with some estimates over $35 million. The film was apparently poorly produced and budgeted and the production quickly saw money dry up and crew not paid, which prompted shut downs and eventually led to $15.13 million being owed to the creditors.

The multi-continent production was largely filmed in Australia and the footage was seized since the creditors were not paid and the film would not be eligible for millions in Australian rebates if the production could not complete the film — which was 90% finished. The film languished for about a year and the creditors were finally paid off and Corsan invested an estimated additional $1.5 million to complete the film. Corsan finally put the troubled Singularity onto the market at Cannes in 2014 and renamed it The Lovers and IFC picked up US rights for a VOD release and IFC released the film at their IFC Center in NYC and did not report its box office numbers. No overseas numbers were reported.