FEBRUARY 2015 Email: [email protected] www.bectu.org.uk February already! And with it comes a sense of impending spring: lighter evenings, Easter bunnies in the shops and… snow! If you’re looking for a few bright ideas to warm the wintry cockles before the sun sets in then there should be plenty to illuminate the last few dark nights of the season this month; with schedules pushing well into March, April and May, tales of summers past, espionage and Anglo Saxon poetry (the original Scandi Noir!) will provide for any adventure you may wish for… Spencer MacDonald FEATURE FILMS: Title: BANKING ON MR TOAD Type: feature Prod company: Haas Silver Levene Film Studios Prod team: Luis Mandoki (director), Adrien Brody, Timothy Hass, Richard Hewitt (producers), Robert Green, Miles Ketley, Tony Silver (executive producers) Scheduled shoot: Shepperton Studios Berkshire locations site specific locations Start date: spring 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: general enquiries: Shepperton Studios 1 Studios Road Shepperton MIDDLESEX TW17 0QD tel: 01932 562 611 [email protected] Comments: Producer Timothy Haas has scripted this combined live action and animated feature which tells the life story of author Kenneth Grahame, possibly best known for his perennially favourite tale The Wind In The Willows and possibly least known for the position he held at The Bank of England for a considerable part of his working life; Adrien Brody steps into the shoes of Ratty, Mole, Badger and, of course, the gregarious Toad’s creator while Brian Blessed joins the cast to play – surprisingly not Toad of Toad Hall! – but Grahame’s cohort, philologist and co-creator of the Oxford English Dictionary – as well as being a keen oarsman - Frederick James Furnivall; preproduction Title: CASSY AND JUDE Type: feature Prod company: Film & Music Entertainment Ltd Prod team: Marc Evans (director), Sam Taylor, Mike Downey (producers), Stephen Daldry (executive producer), Meinir J Stoutt (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Wales Start date: spring 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected] Comments: Sibling rivalry rears its head again (this time on dry land) in Bruno Heller’s adaptation of Dorothy Baker’s comic romantic tale of love and sisterly sabotage Cassandra At The Wedding; preproduction 2 Title: THE CORRESPONDENCE Type: feature Prod company: Paco Cinematografica, Warner Bros (Italy) Prod team: Giuseppe Tornatore (director), Isabella Cocuzza, Guido De Laurentiis, Arturo Pagla (producers), Paul Sarony (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: Italy Yorkshire Scotland Start date: April 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *Paco Cinematografica note that the majority of the crew employed will be Italian [email protected] www.pacocinematografica.it Comments: This drama from Warner Bros’ Italy about a young woman who becomes romantically involved with a professor will house a predominately Italian crew; preproduction Title: GOLD Type: feature Prod company: AL Films in association with BBC Films Prod team: Vicky Licorish, Joanna Anderson, Kevin Loader (producers), Christine Langan (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: UK Russia Start date: 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected] www.alfilms.com Comments: More competitive sportsman take to the screen… this time on the running track in this feature from AL Films which charts the bubbling, athletic, tension and tough competition between Steve Ovett 3 and Sebastian Coe in the early 1980s; William Davies has adapted his screenplay from the novel “The Perfect Distance” by Pat Butcher (not the EastEnd one with the earrings!); Daniel Radcliffe will lead the cast; in development Title: THE HAPPY PRINCE Type: feature Prod company: BBC Films in association with Robert Fox Ltd, Raindog Films and Lionsgate (UK) Prod team: Rupert Everett (director), Robert Fox (producer) Scheduled shoot: UK France Belgium Italy Munich – Bavaria Film Studios Start date: March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office up-and-running as yet, but details as they unfold… Comments: Rupert Everett is screenwriter and director as he reprises the role of Oscar Wilde – having previously played the writer in The Judas Kiss – for this biographical feature focusing on Wilde’s demise following a two-year prison sentence for gross indecency, released in 1897 he spent the final three years of his life, his health deteriorating, in exile; preproduction Title: THE HUNTSMAN Type: feature Prod company: Roth Films Prod team: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (director), Joe Roth, Sam Mercer and Palak Patel (producers), Simone Goodridge (UPM) Scheduled shoot: Pinewood Studios Start date: 7 April 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office details available at the time of writing but news as it unfolds… 4 Comments: Writer and director Frank Darabont, together with David Keopp and Evan Spiliotopoulos, provides the screenplay for US-based Roth Films’ sequel to 2012’s Snow White And The Huntsman while Bill Darby sources the locations for this contemporary twist on The Brothers Grimm’s magical classic; preproduction Title: THE LOCH Type: feature Prod company: Altitude Film Entertainment Prod team: Simon Duric (director), Will Clarke (producer) Scheduled shoot: UK Start date: 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected] www.altitudefilment.com Comments: Peter Mullan heads the cast in Simon Duric and James Watkins’ contemporary reworking of the Loch Ness monster mystery as it plumbs the cold, dark, depths of the horror genre; in development Title: MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN Type: feature Prod company: Chernin Entertainment (US-based) Prod team: Tim Burton (director), Peter Chernin (producer), Siobhan Lyons (UPM) Scheduled shoot: Wales Start date: Spring 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *production office details as they emerge Comments: Acclaimed screenwriter Jane Goldman’s adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ eerie novel set among the shadows and whispers of an abandoned orphanage on a remote island… Who were its former occupants? Who are the children in the photographs? Why were they isolated and hidden from society? And… where are they now…? (…billed as a “comedy” !?); preproduction 5 Title: PATTERN RECOGNITION Type: feature Prod company: New Regency Pictures with Shine Pictures Prod team: Morten Tyldum (director), Ollie Madden (producer), Chad Hamilton (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: UK and non-UK locations (tbc) International locations (tbc) Start date: autumn 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: New Regency Pictures: [email protected] www.newregency.com Shine Pictures: www.shinepictures.co.uk Comments: Very early days on writer Anthony Peckham’s adaptation of William Gibson’s conspiracy thriller for US-based production company New Regency Pictures (Gone Girl, 12 Years A Slave, Love & Other Drugs) and British company Shine Pictures (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, Brighton Rock, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A day); in development Title: ST TRINIAN’S 3 (untitled) Type: feature Prod company: Ealing Studios Prod team: Ben Gregor (director), Barnaby Thompson, Oliver Parker (producers), Mark Hubbard (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Ealing Studios Start date: June 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected] Comments: Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft (Burke & Hare, No Hopers, Jokers & Rogues) seem to be continuing a 6 theme with their writing topics as they turn their attention to the third school outing for this established but questionable institution’s notorious pupils and their roguish associates! In development, currently awaiting confirmation Title: SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS Type: feature Prod company: Harbour Pictures Productions with BBC Films Prod team: Philippa Lowthorpe (director), Nick Barton (producer), Nick O’Hagan (line producer) Scheduled shoot: North West England Start date: May 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected] www.harbourpictures.com Comments: Arthur Ransome’s tale of buckle and swash on the high seas… well, almost, maybe a pond… , has been given the big screen treatment by writer Andrea Gibb bringing his much-loved tale of childhood set in the summer of 1929 to life; in development Title: THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES Type: feature Prod company: Bright Pictures Prod team: Roger Goldby (director), Sarah Sulick (producer), Tim Rice (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: UK France Start date: spring 2015 - 5-week shoot Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected] www.brightpictures.co.uk 7 Comments: Intent on attending the funeral of her ex-husband and undeterred by the lack of an invitation and the English Channel, a Hollywood actress breaks free from the retirement home where she now lives to fulfil her plan; Joan Collins, Pauline Collins and Franco Nero star; preproduction Title: WELCOME TO PURGATORY Type: feature Prod company: Cupsogue Pictures Prod team: Gene Fallaize (director; producer), Tony Cook (producer), Victoria Fallaize (co-producer), Marcus Ako (co-associate producer), Scott Spiegel (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: London Romania Start date: Q1 2015 / Q2 2015: preproduction / production Finish date: Q4 2015 Contact: Tony Cook (producer): [email protected] alternatively, Cupsogue Pictures can be contacted at: [email protected] www.cupsoguepictures.com Comments: Marcus Ako’s otherworldly fantasy story scripted by Tony Cook and Gene Fallaize, with exec producer Scott Spiegel taking further writing credits, promises action and adventure in the afterlife; Geoff Boyle is cinematographer while Damian Knight edits; preproduction 8 TELEVISION: Title: BEOWULF