Toronto: Emerging from development and financial limbo, newly reformed Noble House Entertainment is gearing up for what looks to be an ambitious production cycle – shooting four to six features over the next 24 months, while at the same time distancing itself from the (Hmm, how to put this delicately?) direct-to-video pedigree of its principals.

The company is led by Damian Lee, a been-around-the-block producer of some 20 films stretching back 20 years, including Captured with Dolph Lundgren, the last of the five Death Wishes, and 1996’s Electra with Shannon Tweed. Not the sort of fellow you’d expect to write a biopic of Chopin – least of all one that dwells on how the famed composer’s love life mirrored the medieval fable of Tristan and Isolde, fitting neatly into author Joseph Conrad’s theories about mythological heroes.

Lee says he’s more ’emotionally sober’ these days, and looking to take on higher-minded projects.

He’s also clearly a fan of Conrad and talks excitedly – between tangents about James Joyce, Carl Jung and others – about applying his theories to movie scripts. ‘Using mythological structure is great because it gives the reader a sense of knowledge, of familiarity,’ he notes, citing the early work of Spielberg and Lucas.

Noble House has signed a copro deal worth some $15 million for Chopin, bringing together Germany’s Intuit Pictures and Focus Film of Hungary. They are also seeking a French partner. The company is looking to shoot this time next year, possibly with still-in-talks director Bille August (Smilla’s Sense of Snow).

Lee has had some luck with the festival circuit. He was among the producers of the well-received Woman Wanted in 2000 and of Fun in 1994, but Chopin will be his and Noble House’s first attempt at such a large, costly and artistic feature.

Lee’s plan is to avoid middle-of-the-road projects – making either $10-million-plus prestige films or under-$1-million potboilers. ‘If we can make a good film for $300,000 to $600,000 and it’s Cancon, we can pick up the labor rebates and there’s a real possibility of it being financially worthwhile,’ he says.

They also have Due Process, Forgiven and King of Sorrow to shoot, all by the end of the year. Lee will start the low-budget King in Toronto by June, working from his own script about a homicidal cop who crosses paths with a suicidal psychiatrist, before moving on to the $10-million Forgiven, another cop drama. Sandra Oh (Sideways) and Kim Coates (Assault on Precinct 13) are set to appear, Don Cheadle and Elias Koteas are in talks. The legal/murder thriller Due Process is set for August, to be directed by Michael Hlinka. Two other titles – Scrap Society and Harry Bloom – may shoot in 2006.

The Noble House name has had an irregular history in Toronto. Lee was part of Noble House Communications, which formed and went public in 1996, but left after a few months. In 1997, the company struck and then abandoned a merger with Peter O’Brian’s Independent Pictures. Later, CEO David Wolinsky stepped down and the company dissolved.

Lee cofounded a new and otherwise unrelated outfit, Noble House Productions, in 2003, but was bought by First Empire Corp. The company was renamed Noble House Entertainment and resurfaced in late 2004, with Lee in the CEO chair. Lowell Conn is Noble’s VP of business affairs, Julian Grant (Hostile Intent, Electra) is VP of production.