Bruce Beresford is attached to direct Banking On Mr Toad, which is set to shoot in Dublin and nearby Irish locales in early 2009. The biopic of Kenneth Grahame is being readied as his classic The Wind In The Willows celebrates its 100th anniversary.

The film's budget is $22m. Casting is ongoing.

Timothy W. Haas of Haas Silver Levene will produce. He said: 'We have the inside story, of Kenneth and his wife Elspeth. She was as much a cause and effect on Kenneth's character as the Bank was. Kenneth Grahame is both an heroic and tragic figure, he left us The Wind In the Willows - it's iconic - his life was truly unconventional, his story is astonishing - we're going to wear his shoes - there's a very good reason why he wrote about Toad, Ratty and friends.'

Haas Silver Levene will also lead produce The Inside Outside Man, a $25m project to be directed by Istvan Szabo. That project will shoot in Budapest in 2009 and will cast later this year. It tells the story of Frank Foley, a Berlin-based British passport officer in the 1930s who was actually working for MI-6.

Haas and Tony Silver have created a new UK-based Film Fund for European and US co-productions. The Fund concentrates on projects with budgets of $10m-$55m.

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