Atom looks for Seven Wonders


Victoria's own Atom Egoyan has set his next project as a writer-director: Seven Wonders, a love triangle that blends reality and fantasy.

The project centers on a woman named Pandora who, after her own relationship goes south, becomes consumed by a relationship between a commercials director and the director's boyfriend, even following the helmer as she shoots commercials at the Seven Wonders of the World.

"It's an intimate story that I think can be harnessed on a larger canvas," Egoyan said. "The Seven Wonders are an escape from our lives, places where we can believe in something larger."

Continuing Egoyan's recent interest in technology -- a topic that figures in his recent Festival de Cannes premiere Adoration -- the two women of Wonders meet online, leading to ambiguity over whether some of the interactions might be taking place only in Pandora's imagination.

The director will produce Wonders through his Toronto-based Ego Film Arts.

With its exotic locations, the budget is likely to be higher than it would be for a traditional Egoyan film. Several financing options are said to be under consideration.

In addition to Wonders, Egoyan -- who was nominated for an Oscar for best director and best adapted screenplay for The Sweet Hereafter and exec produced Sarah Polley's 2007 directorial debut Away From Her -- is considering one of several projects based on others' scripts. He also is set to direct Eh Joe at New York's Lincoln Center this summer, based on Samuel Beckett's play, and Adoration, slated for release by Sony Pictures Classics, has yet to receive a release date.

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