New films from Mike Leigh, Yorgos Lanthimos and Lenny Abrahamson are among the hot UK and Ireland projects to arrive in 2018.
Cold War
Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski
Pawlikoswki’s first film since 2013’s Oscar-winning Ida — which played at festivals including Telluride, Sundance, Hong Kong, Rio, Karlovy Vary and Sarajevo — is a Polish and French-language romance set in Europe in the 1950s. It stars Tomasz Kot (Spoor) and Ida duo Agata Kulesza and Joanna Kulig; producers include Tanya Seghatchian (My Summer Of Love). Contact: Protagonist Pictures
Country Music
Dir: Tom Harper
Beast actress Jessie Buckley plays a Glasgow musician who dreams of becoming a Nashville star in this BFI and Film4-backed musical drama, which also stars Julie Walters and Sophie Okonedo. Fable Pictures’ Faye Ward (Suffragette) produces; Entertainment One snapped up worldwide rights last May. Harper, whose TV credits include War & Peace and Peaky Blinders, is currently attached to Amazon Studios’ The Aeronauts. Fable’s Stan And Ollie is another strong festival candidate in 2018.
Contact: eOne
The Favourite
Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Festival favourite Lanthimos, whose last two films - The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and The Lobster - debuted at Cannes, changes pace with a “bawdy, acerbic tale of royal intrigue, passion, envy and betrayal”, set within the court of 18th-century British monarch Queen Anne. The starry cast features Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Nicholas Hoult and 2015 Screen Star of Tomorrow Joe Alwyn. Contact: Element Pictures
The Little Stranger
Dir: Lenny Abrahamson
While haunted-house chillers are not an obvious fit for the festival circuit, Room director Abrahamson’s credentials are strong. Currently in post-production, Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter and Charlotte Rampling star in this story of a doctor who, during a hot summer in 1948, is called to treat a patient at a haunted country house. Focus Features snapped up US rights at Cannes 2017; Pathé and Universal Pictures International handle the rest of the world.
Contact: Pathé International
Fanny Lye Deliver’d
Dir: Thomas Clay
Could Clay’s thriller-western, his first film in nine years, be this year’s Lady Macbeth? The story is set on an isolated farm in Shropshire in 1657 and follows the story of strict Puritan Fanny Lye whose world is shaken by the arrival of two strangers. Maxine Peake and Charles Dance lead the cast on the Creative England-backed production, which wrapped in spring 2016. The director’s two previous features debuted at Cannes. Contact: Co-production Office
The Souvenir: Part I
Dir: Joanna Hogg
In what is billed as Hogg’s most commercial film to date, Robert Pattinson, Tom Burke, Richard Ayoade and Ariane Labed star alongside an as-yet unannounced newcomer in the BBC Films-backed story of a film student in the early 1980s who becomes romantically involved with an untrustworthy man. Martin Scorsese is an executive producer on the surefire festival friend, which wrapped in late 2017. Contact: Protagonist Pictures
Maradona
Dir: Asif Kapadia
Kapadia’s bio-doc of football icon Diego Maradona was anticipated for 2017 but is still in production. The filmmaker has access to more than 500 hours of unseen footage from the Argentinian’s personal archive. Kapadia premiered his Oscar winner Amy at Cannes in 2015 so, with a late-summer UK release on the cards, a Croisette debut could be in the offing. Contact: Altitude Film Sales
Peterloo
Dir: Mike Leigh
This Amazon-backed historical drama, Leigh’s latest large-canvas outing after 2014 hit Mr. Turner, charts the 1819 Peterloo Massacre when British forces attacked a peaceful pro-democracy rally in Manchester. Returning collaborators include DoP Dick Pope, production designer Suzie Davies, costume designer Jacqueline Durran and editor Jon Gregory. Cast includes Maxine Peake and Rory Kinnear. Contact: Cornerstone Films
Untitled Chris Morris production
Dir: Chris Morris
Satirist Morris’s anticipated first film since controversial 2010 comedy Four Lions has been kept largely under wraps after shooting last year in the US and the Caribbean. Cast is understood to include Anna Kendrick, Kayvan Novak, James Adomian and Orange Is The New Black’s Danielle Brooks. Film4 backed the project, which is produced by See-Saw Films and Archer Gray Productions. Contact: See-Saw Films
XY Chelsea
Dir: Tim Travers Hawkins
A look at the life of Chelsea Manning, the trans woman and former US soldier who was sentenced to 35 years at an all-male military prison for leaking information about the country’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The BFI-backed documentary is executive-produced by Laura Poitras and is produced by American Honey outfit Pulse Films. Contact: Submarine Entertainment
No comments yet