Sundance: A24 Nabs Daniel Radcliffe's 'Swiss Army Man'

Paul Dano also stars in the quirky survivalist tale.

Following a slow-moving bidding war, A24 has nabbed North American rights to Swiss Army Man. Netflix, Amazon, The Orchard and Sony Pictures Classics also were vying for the film, which premiered Jan. 22 in the U.S. Dramatic section of the Sundance Film Festival.

A source pegged the deal at low seven figures.

A24 is planning to give the film, which stars Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano, a traditional theatrical release in the summer.

The film follows Hank (Dano), who is stranded a tiny deserted island. One day a dead body (Radcliffe) washes ashore, and Hank realizes it may be his last opportunity to escape certain death, so the duo go on an epic adventure to bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams.

Swiss Army Man also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Timothy Eulich and Richard Gross.

Written and directed by the music video directing-duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film caused a stir in its premiere because of its unusual story that features Radcliffe's character as a dead body that Dano's character uses to survive. At one point, the body's farts are used to create a human jet ski of sorts.

THR's review stated: "It’s entirely to the directors and the two lead actors’ credit that what sounds like a bunch of overextended body humor gags of the most juvenile variety evolve, by sheer repetitious attrition, into something bizarrely poetic and strangely touching"

Miranda Bailey, Lawrence Inglee, Lauren Mann, Amanda Marshall, Eyal Rimmon and Jonathan Wang produced, with Jim Kaufman, William Olsson and Gideon Tadmor acting as executive producers.

The deal was negotiated by WME Global, ICM Partners and UTA. The directors are repped by Mosaic.