Story of amateur sailor who attempted to sail around the world begins UK shoot.

A feature based on the true story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his attempt to win the first Golden Globe round the world yacht race in 1968 has begun shooting in the UK this week.

The announcement was made by StudioCanal, Blueprint Pictures and BBC Films in Cannes today.

Directed by James Marsh (The Theory of Everything), the film will star Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) as Crowhurst.

The support cast includes Rachel Weisz as his wife Clare Crowhurst, David Thewlis as his press agent Rodney Hallworth, Ken Stott as Crowhurst’s sponsor Stanley Best and Jonathan Bailey as rookie reporter Wheeler.

Produced by Pete Czernin and Graham Broadbent through Blueprint Pictures and Scott Z. Burns, alongside Nicolas Mauvernay and Jacques Perrin of Galatee, the project has been developed with Christine Langan from BBC Films and StudioCanal.  

Marsh said: “Donald Crowhurst’s story is an extraordinary and haunting tale of a man going to sea and the family he leaves behind. Scott has written a beautiful script that gets to the heart of the myth of Crowhurst in a sympathetic and humane way. This promises to be quite an adventure for us all.”

StudioCanal is selling the film worldwide. The studio will release in their territories: UK, France, Germany, Australia and NZ.

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