SAG award-winner Alex Sharp and The Souvenir star Tom Burke have joined the cast of Oliver Hermanus’ Living, which the UK’s Number 9 Films has begun shooting with Bill Nighy.
London-based Rocket Science is handling international sales and will be introducing the project to buyers at the Cannes Pre-Screenings next week. A first look image of Nighy has been released and can be seen above.
Set in London in 1952, Nighy plays a civil servant named Williams who heads to the coast after receiving a life-threatening medical diagnosis and vows to make his final days meaningful.
Burke, who recently starred as Orson Welles in David Fincher’s Mank, plays an enigmatic stranger who takes Williams out on the town, where he becomes intrigued by a young co-worker played by Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood. Sharp, most recently seen in The Trial Of The Chicago Seven, plays an optimistic new colleague of Williams who helps the veteran civil servant bring happiness to his community.
Shooting on the film, produced by Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen of Number 9 Films, has begun in the UK. County Hall Arts, set on the bank of the River Thames, has come on board to provide the main backdrop of the film and the organisation’s Ian Prior and Kenzo Okamato will also serve as executive producers alongside Ko Kurosawa of Kurosawa Productions.
The screenplay has been adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 Japanese film Ikiru by Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro, whose credits include Remains Of The Day and Never Let Me Go.
It marks the latest feature from South African filmmaker Hermanus, who previous film was queer war drama Moffie.
Living has been developed with support from Film4 and Ingenious, with financing from Film4, County Hall Arts and Lipsync. Film4 retained UK free TV broadcast rights.
Toho, which originally distributed Ikiru, has bought rights for Japan while Lionsgate took UK rights to the film at the end of 2020 and Transmission will handle in Australia.
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