20th January 2006

From ScreenInternational:

Picturehouse, New Line Int'l take Silk road together

Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles 20 January 2006

Picturehouse and New Line International have snapped up the majority of the world on Francois Girard's dark romantic adaptation Silk, which will stars Keira Knightley, Michael Pitt, Koji Yakusho and Alfred Molina.

Filming is due to begin at the end of February in Matsumoto, Japan, and will end in late May in Italy, as the crew follows the trail of Alessandro Baricco's besteller across Egypt and Asia.

The Canadian-Italian-Japanese co-production is being put together by Rhombus Media, Fandango SRL and Bee Vine Pictures, in association with Productions Soie and Vice Versa Films.

Alliance Atlantis affiliate Motion Picture Distribution will release in Canada, Fandango in Italy and Asmik Ace in Japan.

New Line, a joint venture partner in Picturehouse alongside HBO, will handle all other territories and will begin sales in Berlin next month.

Baricco's story follows a 19th century French silkworm merchant Herve Joncour as he travels to Japan and embarks upon a secret affair with a mysterious woman.

Girard and Michael Golding adapted the screenplay and Niv Fichman, Nadine Luque, Domenico Procacci and Sonoko Sakai will serve as producers.

New Line's senior vice president of business affairs Carolyn Blackwood negotiated the deal with Stephen Saltzman of Loeb and Loeb on behalf of the filmmakers.

"Silk is a sweeping erotic tale that will translate gloriously from page to screen," Picturehouse president Bob Berney said. "With the book's many dedicated fans around the world, we look forward to bringing this film to theaters."

"Alessandro Baricco's book is perfect movie material," Girard, whose credits include The Red Violin, added. "It offers both the intimacy of a gripping emotional tale and the epic quality of a journey to the end of the world."

Picturehouse's upcoming releases include Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story, Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page, Steven Shainberg's Fur, which recently wrapped production and stars Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr, and Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.
 
 

Variety, 20th January 2006:
Pair smooth as 'Silk'
New Line, Picturehouse team on drama

By IAN MOHR
New Line Intl. and Picturehouse, the joint distribution venture between New Line and HBO Films, have picked up rights in most of the world to helmer Francois Girard's upcoming romantic drama "Silk."
Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Koji Yakusho and Alfred Molina will star.

Script is based on the bestseller by Alessandro Baricco about a 19th century French silkworm merchant who travels to Japan, where he starts up a forbidden romance with a mysterious, sensual woman.

Production is slated to begin next month in Japan and will wrapwrap in late May in Italy after shoots across Egypt and Asia.

Adapted by Girard -- whose helming credits include "The Red Violin" -- and Michael Golding, pic is being produced through the Rhombus Media, Fandango S.R.L and Bee Vine Pictures banners, in association with Prods. Soie and Vice Versa Films. Niv Fichman, Nadine Luque, Domenico Procacci and Sonoko Sakai are the producers.

Announcement of the pickup was made as Picturehouse head Bob Berney was boarding a plane for Sundance.

Motion Picture Distribution is handling Canadian distribution. Fandango will distribdistrib in Italy, and Asmik Ace will unspoolunspool "Silk" in Japan. New Line Intl. will handle the rest of the world.

PactPact had originally been in the works under New Line Intl., and Picturehouse was brought in to handle the U.S.

Picturehouse was launched formally in Cannes. The banner's upcoming slate includes Michael Winterbottom's "Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story" and Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion."
 

From Variety.com:

New Line falls for 'Domino'
Principal photography skedded to begin Oct. 4
 

HOLLYWOOD -- Tony Scott will direct and Keira Knightley will star in "Domino" for New Line.
Penned by "Donnie Darko" writer-director Richard Kelly, "Domino" is based on the true story of Domino Harvey, the daughter of actor Laurence Harvey. A former Ford model, she rejected her life in Beverly Hills to become a bounty hunter.

Scott and Samuel Hadida are producing the picture, which Hadida is financing. Principal photography is scheduled to begin Oct. 4, with shoots in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Hadida's Metropolitan Filmexport will release the film in France, while Summit Entertainment and Davis Films are handling other foreign sales.

"Domino" is a Davis Films/Scott-Free production. New Line production president Toby Emmerich is overseeing the project for the studio.

Scott and Hadida collaborated on "True Romance" (1993) and "Spy Game" (2001).

Hadida brought the project to New Line, which has long utilized Metropolitan as its French distribdistrib.

Scott most recently directed "Man on Fire."

Most recently starring in "King Arthur," Knightley will star opposite Adrien Brody in "The Jacket" and will topline "Pride and Prejudice."

Hadida's other 2004 productions include "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," starring Robert De Niro.

14th July 04

From ScreenDaily.com:

Dench, Sutherland round out Pride cast

Judi Dench, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Tom Hollander and Penelope Wilton have joined the cast of Working Title Films’ Pride And Prejudice

Principal photography starts on July 19 on the adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel. The film, which stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike and Jena Malone, will shoot entirely on location around England until October.

Joe Wright will make his directing debut on the film, which Deborah Moggach’s has adapted faithfully to the period of the novel.

Producing duties are shared by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner for Working Title and Paul Webster. Executive producers are Debra Hayward and Liza Chasin, while Jane Frazer is co-producer.
 

And from Variety:

LONDON -- Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Judi Dench and Penelope Wilton have joined the cast of Working Title's upcoming adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel "Pride and Prejudice."

Sutherland and Blethyn will play Mr and Mrs Bennet, the parents of the story's romantic heroine Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). Dench will take a cameo as the snobbish aristocratic aunt of the hero Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen).

Pic is directed by Joe Wright and will be distributed by Universal. It starts shooting July 19 on location around England. Other cast members include Tom Hollender, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone and Simon Woods.

VARIETY
Macfadyen is new Mr. Darcy
"Spooks" star wins iconic role opposite Keira Knightley

By ADAM DAWTREY

LONDON -- Matthew Macfadyen has been cast in the iconic role of Mr. Darcy opposite Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Bennet in Working Title's upcoming version of Jane Austen's romantic novel "Pride and Prejudice."
This is the biggest movie role yet for the 29-year-old Macfadyen, who played the lead in the BBC spy series "Spooks" (broadcast Stateside as "MI-5"). He recently starred in the Kiwi movie "In My Father's Den," currently in post-production.

Also joining the cast are Rosamund Pike, as Elizabeth's perfect older sister Jane, and American actress Jena Malone as the trou-blesome youngest sister Lydia.

Production of the movie, directed by Joe Wright from a script by Lee Hall and Deborah Moggach, has been brought forward from late August to mid-July. Producers are Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster.

"Pride And Prejudice" is the classic tale of an opinionated young woman and an arrogant, rich snob who overcome their initial antipathy and various other social obstacles to fall in love.

Colin Firth became a star by playing Mr. Darcy in the BBC's 1994 TV series of "Pride and Prejudice," a role so imprinted on the public consciousness that it features heavily in Helen Fielding's book "Bridget Jones's Diary," and led to Firth being cast as Mark Darcy in the movie version.
 

ScreenDaily
Working Title finds its Darcy

Adam Minns in London 11 June 2004 04:00

Working Title Films has finally found its Darcy. The UK powerhouse has cast rising British actor Matthew Macfadyen as the arrogant but eligible male lead in its upcoming Jane Austen adaptation Pride And Prejudice.

Macfadyen will star opposite Keira Knightley, who plays the central Bennet daughter, Elizabeth. The other Bennet sisters will include The Libertine and Die Another Day’s Rosamund Pike as Jane, the oldest, and Jena Malone, the US actress from Cold Mountain, The United States Of Leland and Donnie Darko, as Lydia, the youngest.

Macfadyen is best known as the star of hit British TV spy thriller Spooks, which aired successfully in the US as MI-5. Along with starring in high-profile TV productions such as The Project and Warriors, he recently wrapped his first starring role in a feature with In My Father's Den, the story of a disillusioned war reporter. His period credits include his TV debut, Granada Television’s Wuthering Heights, and BBC2’s recent Anthony Trollope adaptation The Way We Live Now.

Shooting on Pride And Prejudice is scheduled to start next month, with Working Title co-chairman Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner producing with Paul Webster. Joe Wright, whose credits include BBC TV mini-series Charles II and Nature Boy, is making his directing debut from a script by Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall and Tulip Fever novelist Deborah Moggach.

8th June 2004
U feels Austen powers
Knightley taking 'Pride' in retelling of lit classic

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Keira Knightley is set to star in "Pride and Prejudice," an adaptation of the Jane Austen classic for Working Title and Universal.
Joe Wright, who helmed the BBC miniseries "Charles II," is directing a script originally penned by Deborah Moggach ("Tulip Fever") and rewritten by Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot"). Filming begins in July.

Knightley will play Elizabeth Bennet, the second of five sisters in a British family ruled by a mother determined to marry her daughters into money.

Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce with Paul Webster. The film is the second Working Title pic for Knightley, who was part of the "Love Actually" ensemble.

"We are glad to be bringing this classic back to audiences everywhere," Bevan said.

The Austen novel has been turned into films dating back to the 1940 pic that starred Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. It is also being transformed into the Gurinder Chadha-directed Bollywood musical "Bride and Prejudice," which is in the can for Pathe U.K. and Miramax. The Working Title adaptation, faithful to the setting and period of the original novel, will be distributed either by Universal or Focus Features.

The UTA-repped Knightley just wrapped "The Jacket" for Warner Bros. and Mandalay, and she plays Guinevere in the Antoine Fuqua-directed "King Arthur," which Disney opens July 7. Knightley is also expected to reprise her role in the back-to-back sequels to Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean."

ScreenDaily.com have the following article today, 27 April 2004:

Knightley to star in Working Title's Pride And Prejudice
Adam Minns in London 27 April 2004

Keira Knightley is in advanced negotiations to star in Working Title Films’ Jane Austen adaptation Pride And Prejudice.

The UK star is to start shooting mid-August, according to UK press reports, although Working Title is still to cast the role of Darcy.

The production means Knightley will be moving from a book by Deborah Moggach to a script by the same writer. Moggach wrote the original Pride And Prejudice screenplay – with Lee Hall coming on board later – while Knightley was to star this year opposite Jude Law in Tulip Fever, adapted from Moggach’s novel.

That production had to be postponed following the government clamp down on tax funds on Feb 10. Tulip Fever producer Alison Owen had aimed to re-start the production this autumn, although it is unclear whether that will clash with Knightley’s work on Pride And Prejudice.

Director Joe Wright, whose credits include BBC TV mini-series Charles II and Nature Boy, makes his feature debut on Pride And Prejudice. Paul Webster is producing for Working Title.
 

In January, Variety.com had this:

"Pride and Prejudice" is looking good to go in 2004 for Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner's Working Title Films, now that the Universal-owned company has signed up rookie helmer Joe Wright to direct its version of Jane Austen's classic 19th century romance. Wright previously directed two acclaimed BBC mini-series --- the historical biog "Charles II" and contempo drama "Nature Boy."

Novelist Deborah Moggach ("Tulip Fever") wrote the first draft of the "Pride and Prejudice" script, and "Billy Elliot" scribe Lee Hall is now buffing it up. "We're trying to do something that pleases the enthusiasts and the Austen fans, that's a faithful adaptation but with a bit more muscle," says one WT insider. Pic is not yet greenlit, but is expected to shoot this summer.
 

Variety.com and ScreenDaily/ScreenInternational are the only two reliable sources for movie signing information, and 'advanced negotiations' would suggest she has been cast and her management are only securing her final fees. Earlier this month The Evening Standard reported actress Romola Garai was top of the list to play the lead, Elizabeth Bennett, although this role would not be finalised 'until Mr. Darcy had been cast'. The article above now seems to contradict this. I've not seen this reported in the press, so I'm unsure which sources ScreenDaily are referring to.

Keira and Romola last went head-to-head in 2002 when Zhivago was broadcast on ITV at virtually the same time as Romola's Daniel Deronda on the BBC.

Working Title are the producers behind Love Actually and Bridget Jones's Diary, so it's perhaps no surprise they'd want Keira again.

A big-budget production of P & P was made in 1995 by the BBC with Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, but this will be the first cinema version since 1940, which starred Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.

At the moment, this is still not confirmed, but its source seems to make it more of a certainty than any of the current rash of rumours.

Variety has the following re: the postponed Tulip Fever:

Owen revisits 'Brideshead'
Producer also has 'Fever,' 'Holiday' on slate

By ADAM DAWTREY

Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connolly, the married thesps who starred together in "A Beautiful Mind," are set to reteam in a movie version of Evelyn Waugh's romantic novel "Brideshead Revisited," which Warner Independent Pictures will release in North America.
Pic is one of three high-profile projects on the upcoming slate of Brit producer Alison Owen, whose recent credits include "Proof" and "Sylvia."

She also is restructuring "Tulip Fever," which fell apart in pre-production earlier this year because of the sudden change in U.K. tax rules; and developing "Rachel's Holiday," with Catherine Zeta-Jones in talks to star.

"Brideshead Revisited," which Owen's Ruby Films is producing with Ecosse Films, will be directed by David Yates, who helmed the BAFTA-winning BBC series "State of Play." Script is by Andrew Davies.

Set in the 1920s and '30s and previously adapted into a classic Granada TV series, "Brideshead Revisited" is the story of Charles Ryder (Bettany), an aspiring painter who gets mixed up with the aristocratic, beautiful, doomed Flyte family -- sister Julia (Connolly) and brother Sebastian (yet to be cast).

Warner Independent is in line to take North America, with the producers finalizing the international co-finance to start shooting in August.

"Tulip Fever," adapted by Tom Stoppard from Deborah Moggach's romantic novel set in 17th-century Holland, is being retooled to shoot early in 2005. Keira Knightley is still firm to star, although the continued involvement of director John Madden and co-star Jude Law is unresolved and depends on other commitments.

Originally set up as a $45 million DreamWorks production, pic is being reconceived as a $26 million indie project. DreamWorks now will take only North American rights, with Owen lining up foreign distribution.

"Rachel's Holiday," adapted by Jonathan Harvey from Miriam Keyes' novel about a woman who can't face up to her addiction, is being developed with BBC Films.

Ruby also has a separate, untitled production company in partnership with thesp Gwyneth Paltrow. Its first project, crime thriller "Diamonds," is being scripted by "Sexy Beast" duo Louis Mellis and David Scinto. Owen is in the process of raising equity coin to finance the Paltrow shingle.

Meanwhile, former DreamWorks production exec Paul Lister is working with Ruby in Los Angeles and likely to join the company.
 
 

Meanwhile, former DreamWorks production exec Paul Lister is working with Ruby in Los Angeles and likely to join the company.