John Lee Hancock's ‘Monsanto' to shoot in Germany for Netflix

John Lee Hancock’s legal drama Monsanto, starring Laura Dern, is set to shoot in Germany for Netflix, with Jonathan Bailey joining the cast, replacing the previously announced Glen Powell. 

The project has been awarded €500,000 in production support from FFF Bayern’s dedicated fund for international films and series. It has also received support from the regional film fund’s film commission in scouting locations for the shoot in Bavaria.

Bailey will play the real-life role of untried attorney Brent Wisner who takes on the seemingly insurmountable lawsuit against the US chemical company Monsanto, claiming that its Roundup herbicide products cause cancer. Dern, as Monsanto’s chief toxicologist, testifies with certainty during the trial that Roundup is safe 

The German-US co-production between Philip Schulz-Deyle’s KrautPack Entertainment and Moritz Borman’s Los Angeles-based Onda Entertainment was pre-sold to Netflix for over $30m at the Cannes 2024 market.

International co-productions can access up to €2m per project as a conditionally repayable loan from this fund for international theatrical films and series, with international producers requiring a German producer to apply for funding from FFF.