‘MAKE A FILM PEOPLE WILL TALK ABOUT. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS STILL WORD OF MOUTH’ THE BRIT 50: DIRECTORS IN THE HOUSE, p40


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RECORDED PICTURE COMPANY


Need to know Sexagenarian Jere- my Thomas is one of the world’s great independent producers, an effortlessly global fi gure as comfortable shooting Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins in Japan as he is Bertolucci’s Stealing Beau- ty in Tuscany, Bob Rafelson’s Blood And Wine in Florida or David Mackenzie’s Young Adam in Scotland. In business since 1974, Thomas has the rare dis- tinction of owning his library of titles which he exploits through HanWay Films, the sales outfi t he co-founded with RPC CEO Peter Watson and COO Stephan Mallmann in 1999. A vintage year for the company, 2010 saw


two of its fi lms — 13 Assassins and Jerzy Skolimowski’s Es- sential Killing — win kudos in the autumn festival season, and two more — David Cronenberg’s star-studded A Dangerous Meth- od and Miike’s fi rst 3D fi lm (as yet untitled) — in the can. Key personnel Jeremy Thomas, Pe- ter Watson, Stephan Mallmann. Incoming RPC continues to raise fi nance for Terry Gilliam’s long- gestating The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, an adaptation of JG Ballard’s futuristic novel High- Rise directed by Canada’s Vincen- zo Natali and Kon-Tiki, an ambi- tious epic about Thor Heyerdal’s 1947 raft trip across the Pacifi c which will be directed by Nor- way’s Max Manus duo Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg.


Jeremy Thomas


Jeremy Thomas says “I’m optimis- tic about the future. In spite of everything, people want to see stories told in a visual way. I still think that if you propose original ideas you are going to get stuff


The broadcasters BBC Films and Film4 are vital to the UK — and both are extending their reach in 2011 BBC FILMS


Need to know BBC Films’ recent diverse string of projects in- cludes Tamara Drewe, Africa United, West Is West, Made In Da- genham, Brighton Rock, The First Grader and the hit StreetDance 3D (BBC Films is in talks to join the sequel). The BBC division has an annual budget of $18.7m (£12m), and it had some good news this year when BBC Films got a permanent home on BBC2. Key personnel Creative director and executive producer Chris- tine Langan, executive producer Joe Oppenheimer, executive pro- ducer Jamie Laurenson. Incoming In post now are Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus, Cary Fuku- naga’s Jane Eyre, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lasse Hallstrom’s Salmon Fish- ing In The Yemen, Nick Murphy’s The Awakening starring Rebecca Hall, and Simon Curtis’ My Week With Marilyn starring Michelle Williams. Next to shoot in 2011 is likely to be 360, a multi-


FILM4 Christine Langan


stranded tale of love and sexual obsession directed by Fernando Meirelles. In development are Dus-


tin Hoffman’s directorial debut Quartet, Stephen Fry’s Hallelu- jah!, athletics story Ovett And Coe, Abi Morgan’s script The In- visible Woman and Armando Ian- nucci’s Out The Window. Christine Langan says “By our very nature, our slate is diverse. Com- ing from the BBC, we prize qual- ity and also originality, fresh- ness. We’re pushing all the work to be of a certain level. We’ve got a really exciting development slate, with a mixed-up range of talent.” www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfi lms


Need to know As if the 2009 suc- cess of Slumdog Millionaire wasn’t enough, the good news kept com- ing in autumn 2010 as Channel 4 announced it was boosting the Film4 budget by 50% to $23.3m (£15m) per year. Several Film4 titles were festival favourites in 2010: Four Lions, Another Year, 127 Hours, Never Let Me Go, Sub- marine, Chatroom and Neds. Incoming Kevin Macdonald’s Ro- man epic The Eagle will be re- leased in March. In post are Pawel Pawlikowski’s The Woman In The Fifth, Miranda July’s The Future, Joe Cornish’s Attack The Block, An- drea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, Walter Salles’ On The Road, Lone Scherfi g’s One Day, Paddy Consid- ine’s Tyrannosaur and Ben Wheat- ley’s The Kill List. Films in pro- duction include Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, Bart Layton’s The Imposter and Carol Morley’s Dreams Of A Life. Shoots lined up for 2011 include a fi lm version of hit UK TV comedy The Inbetween-


Tessa Ross


ers, Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio and Jonathan Glaz- er’s Under The Skin, with Scarlett Johansson attached to star. Key personnel Channel 4 control- ler of fi lm and drama Tessa Ross, Film4 head of commercial devel- opment Sue Bruce-Smith, Film4 senior commissioning executive Katherine Butler, Film4 head of development Sam Lavender. Sue Bruce-Smith says “We want to do fi lms that are distinctive, bold, risk-taking… and will also work for our Channel 4 audiences. The ex- tra money allows us to expand our reach, so we can do slightly higher- budgeted fi lms but also take more risks at the lower-budget end.” www.fi lm4.com


December 15, 2010 Screen International 39 ■


made, and there is still a desire for people to watch it in all for- mats. People said that cinema would die but it’s not true, it’s still there.” www.recordedpicture.com


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