Actor-director John Turturro will distribute his movie Romance & Cigarettes with his own money, after a studio takeover left it on the scrap-head. The musical was made in 2004 with an ensemble cast including James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi and Christopher Walken.It's future was thrown into jeopardy before it could be released when MGM was bought by a consortium headed by Sony in 2005. It was released in the U.K. in 2006, but has been left in limbo in the U.S. as the filmmakers attempt to unravel a legal mess so the film can be seen by the American public.Sony Pictures claims it has video rights for the movie and MGM has theatrical rights - but a source claims Turturro has secured the film's release so it can go on show at New York's Film Forum from 7 September (07), at his own expense. The picture had an original release date of August 2005 but was pushed back so it could take part in the Venice Film Festival.But since it's premiere it has struggled to get a release stateside. It was played in a number of foreign film theatres taking a reported $2.5 million.A release date in New York has been penciled in for 7 September.

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