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Tag: BBC Films

  • BBC Films, Shine Pictures acquire film rights to ‘The Farm’

    BBC Films, Shine Pictures acquire film rights to ‘The Farm’

    MUMBAI: BBC Films and Shine Pictures, the film division of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Group, have bought the rights to psychological thriller The Farm, the latest novel penned by Tom Rob Smith.

     

    Smith’s latest book is set in London and Sweden and tells the tale of a boy who believes his parents are living a peaceful life on a farm in rural Sweden. He gets a call from his father telling him his mother has escaped from a mental hospital shortly after being committed. Then his mother calls and asks him to allow her to give her side of the story.

     

    It will be produced by Shine’s head of film, Ollie Madden, with Christine Langan exec producing for BBC Films.

     

    Smith’s Child 44 trilogy has sold more than four million copies worldwide, the first of which has been made as a film directed by Daniel Espinosa starring Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace. It is due for release this year.

     

    Smith also created the five-part BBC-backed miniseries London Spy, which will air in 2015.

     

    Shine Pictures and the public broadcaster’s movie division previously worked together on Salmon Fishing In the Yemen.

  • Kate Beckinsale to be a part of The Face of an Angel

    Kate Beckinsale to be a part of The Face of an Angel

    MUMBAI: A drama directed by Michael Winterbottom will soon see Kate Beckinsale be a part of the crew alongside Daniel Bruhl and Cara Delevingne.

     

    Scripted by Paul Viragh, the film is based on the book ‘Angel Face’ by Barbie Nadeau with a plot loosely based on Amanda Knox. Amanda Knox was an American woman who was convicted to killing a mate along with her boyfriend in Italy and served four years in prison before the conviction was overturned.

     

    Beckinsale will play a journalist in the movie while Delevingne is playing a suspect and Bruhl is a documentary film maker.

     

    The film will start production in Italy, backed by BBC films and produced by Melissa Parmenter.

  • BBC Films announces new structure

    MUMBAI: BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter has announced the new structure for BBC Films. The day-to-day management of BBC Films and decision-making will now be the responsibility of a newly-established BBC Films Board, comprising BBC Films commissioning editor Christine Langan, executive producer Jamie Laurenson; executive producer Joe Oppenheimer, commercial affairs and GM.Jane Wright.

    Tranter is already responsible for BBC Films. While the day-to-day management of BBC Films will be handled collectively by the board, the board members will have specific areas of responsibility.

    Jane Wright will chair the board and be responsible for day-to-day operations, raising finance, distribution and executive producing feature films. Langan will executive produce feature films as well as taking on the responsibility for management of the development slate and the development team at BBC Films.

    Laurenson will executive produce feature films, as well as working with BBC Four and Ben Stephenson, Head of Drama Commissioning, on the channel’s slate of single films.

    Oppenheimer will also executive produce feature films, in addition to managing the close creative relationship with HBO Films. The philosophy behind the creation of the board is to allow for a plurality of voice and vision and a collaborative approach to decision-making, while giving the individuals on the board real independence in their executive producer roles.

    Jane Tranter and Claire Evans will work closely with the board on editorial and business affairs matters, offering their support and advice when necessary.

    The new BBC Films Board, with Jane Tranter and Claire Evans, will now put together a detailed editorial and business strategy for the BBC’s feature film output, which will be announced in due course. Physically, BBC Films will move from its existing offices to BBC Television Centre next year.

    Tranter says, “The talent, energy and ambition within the BBC Films Board is very impressive. This move will bring BBC Films back into the heart of the BBC, and in particular BBC Fiction, enabling much greater creative collaboration across BBC Fiction – Drama, Comedy and Acquisition – with films very much at the centre of the department.

    “BBC Films will also benefit from closer access to other key genres at the BBC, allowing for a more fluid traffic of talent and a more effective cross-fertilisation of ideas. We aim to build on the fantastic success BBC Films has had under David Thompson, and build on the enviable reputation it has both here and internationally.”

    Claire Evans said, “The firm intention is that ideas and projects can now flow between the departments much more easily. We aim to encourage the work of many more unique and original voices to work on an ambitious range of projects on a variety of platforms from the big screen to the laptop.

    “We also want to be even more ambitious with our external partnerships across fiction, and become better partners ourselves. We are open for business across the board.”

    BBC Vision director Jana Bennett said, “With these plans, the BBC is set to back an even stronger set of projects from BBC Films. Nowhere in the world can such a diverse range of talent be found working together under one roof, and I am confident that, by bringing the fiction team under Jane Tranter’s leadership, we will be able to better serve the creative and production communities and offer our audiences even more outstanding storytelling.”

    One of BBC Films’ recent releases is the critically acclaimed Eastern Promises from director David Cronenberg. It stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel – will open the Times BFI London Film Festival, and will open in the UK through Pathe on 26 October 2007. In post production are John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love, starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Matthew Rhys; Justin Chadwick’s The Other Boleyn Girl starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana and David Morrissey; Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

    Shooting currently is Saul Dibbs’ The Duchess starring Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley.

  • BBC Films head David Thompson calls it quits

        
    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that BBC Films head David Thompson will be leaving to set up a new independent production company.

    His new company will focus on film and television drama and will launch in 2008 with a first look deal with BBC Fiction. Thompson will also continue to executive produce for BBC Films, a slate of existing projects from development through to completion over the coming years.

    Thompson leaves his current role in four weeks. BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter says, “After an amazing 32 years at the BBC, ten years of those as head of films, David Thompson leaves BBC Films with an impressive slate of international and domestic successes and a truly awesome contribution to the film and drama creative community in the UK.

    “However, despite leaving the corporation to set up his new venture I am delighted the BBC will continue to benefit not only from his unrivalled years of expertise and experience, but from his infamous tenacity, impeccable taste and sharp wit,” she said.

    BBC creative director Alan Yentob says, “Under David Thompson, BBC Films has been responsible for some remarkable British movies and television drama and has consolidated his position at the forefront of British independent filmmaking working in partnership with all the major studios – with BBC Films gathering acclaim internationally.”

    Thompson said, “I feel really privileged to have had the chance to work for BBC Films for many years and the opportunity to work with such an amazing array of talent both new and established. I am delighted that my new arrangement with the BBC will enable me to build on these relationships in the years to come. I have also been lucky enough to work with a brilliant team at BBC Films to whom I am greatly indebted. I am particularly proud of the current slate of films in development and production which is our strongest to date. The experience of running BBC Films for a long time – both the creative and the commercial side – gives me confidence in this new venture!”

    Thompson has executive produced films like Iris, Billy Elliot, Dirty Pretty Things and Notes On A Scandal. The current film slate – the majority developed by BBC films – includes Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; The Other Boleyn Girl starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana; and The Edge Of Love starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys.

    The slate also includes the recently released Eastern Promises starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts directed by David Cronenberg. It looks at the Russian mafia.

  • BBC to make big screen wildlife film on ‘The Meerkats’

    BBC to make big screen wildlife film on ‘The Meerkats’

    MUMBAI: BBC Films will collaborate with the BBC Natural History Unit to produce their first ever feature film together, The Meerkats.

    The film is set to start principal photography this month in the Kalahari Desert. The Weinstein Company are co-financing the project, and will distribute the film internationally.

    The Meerkats is directed by James Honeyborne, with Joe Oppenheimer and Trevor Ingman as producers. BBC Natural History Unit head Neil Nightingale and BBC Films head David M Thompson will serve as executive producers with co-president of production, Michael Cole and director of development and production Rhodri Thomas overseeing the project on behalf of The Weinstein Company.

    The BBC Natural History Unit has been involved in feature films emanating from their own television series – Blue Planet and the forthcoming Planet Earth. But this is the first time such a project has been produced as a feature film right from the outset, asserts an official release.

    The Meerkats is a revealing look at one family’s daily struggle for survival in the harshest environment on earth. But what makes these natives of the African plains even more remarkable is a family dynamic which bears an uncanny resemblance to our own.

    Whether they are going through the routines of daily life or locked in a very real battle to stay alive, The Meerkats is a look at how one family’s connection to each other and their surroundings stands as a model of resilience and fortitude.

    Talking about the film Thompson said, “This is a tremendously exciting collaboration. The Natural History Unit is the best in the world at what they do and we’re really thrilled to be working with them at last. The film has huge emotional appeal and will really travel internationally. It’s a great story, with a fantastic team behind it, and we hope this will be the start of a great partnership for the future.”

    Nightingale added, “I am very excited about the potential of this film project, combining the talents of the BBC Natural History Unit and BBC Films. With a strong and emotional story, featuring some of the most charismatic of wildlife characters, this film will appeal to a very broad cinema audience, in Britain and around the world.”

    BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC, developing, producing and financing an average of eight feature films each year.