It was a deal struck over vegemite. While dining on that Australian paste (spread over toast) aboard James Packer’s yacht May 17, Brett Ratner and Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker closed a $6 million pact for U.S. rights to one of the splashiest films available in Cannes: director James Vanderbilt’s Truth, about CBS News anchor Dan Rather’s resignation and the events leading to it. Ratner and Barker toasted with Foster’s lager (for Barker) and water (for Ratner) when they reached an agreement on the Echo Lake and RatPac Entertainment project, which stars Robert Redford as the newsman and Cate Blanchett as producer Mary Mapes. “We had a much, much bigger offer from another company, but we took the Sony deal,” says Ratner, who also is working with the specialty label on the upcoming I Saw the Light. “Cate and Robert both vocalized to us that they wanted to be in business with Michael and [co-president] Tom Bernard. And Michael was very persistent.”
