StudioCanal, Film4 and the BFI have joined forces to support the Nick Frost film Cuban Fury, a salsa comedy from Big Talk Productions.

Scheduled for a Spring 2013 release, StudioCanal is handling worldwide sales & will promote the title at the Cannes Film Festival (16th – 27th May).

Cuban Fury is based on an idea by Nick Frost, who also stars alongside Rashida Jones, Chris O”Dowd and Olivia Colman. It starts in 1987 when “a 13 year old natural born dancer with fire in his heels and snakes in his hips is working himself up to explode all over the UK Junior Salsa Championships. But then a bullying incident on the mean streets of London robs him of his confidence.”

22 years later, the same boy (Frost) finds himself “out-of-shape and unloved – trapped in a downward spiral of self-pity, repression and Nando”s take-outs. Only Julia, his gorgeous American boss (Jones), gives him reason to live. But she”s out of his league, so he imagines, with her perfect smile and perfect life. Unknown to him, however, she also has a secret passion…”

Produced by Nira Park and James Biddle of Big Talk, working from an original idea by Nick Frost, the screenwriter is Jon Brown, whose hit TV writing credits include series such as Miranda, Misfits and Fresh Meat.

Commenting on the project, Park said: “For as long as I can remember, I’;ve wanted to make a dance movie. Even better, a comedy dance movie. So when I received an email from Nick Frost which read: ‘;how would you feel if I said we should do a film where I DANCE A LOT. Imagine me in tightly fitted sequinned garments with a lot of slow-mo’;, I said: ‘;I want the poster for that movie on my wall now!’; Nick’;s idea for Cuban Fury was fantastic, and finding Jon Brown to collaborate with him and write the script was the first step – Jon just has that knack for funny that is completely innate.”

The director will be James Griffiths: “Being able to bring James Griffiths on to direct was the final piece of the jigsaw,” said Park. “We had a fantastic time making our TV show Free Agents together, and had been looking for the right movie to collaborate on for a long time.”