Powder Keg Pictures, British Lion Films, Align Pictures and Protagonist Pictures have announced that principal photography has now commenced on BLITHE SPIRIT. Directed by Edward Hall (Downton Abbey, Restless) written by Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard, Piers Ashworth and based on the play by Noel Coward.
Leslie Mann (This is 40, The Other Woman) joins an all-star cast which includes Dan Stevens (Beauty and the Beast, Legion), Isla Fisher (The Beach Bum, Confessions of a Shopaholic), Julian Rhind-Tut (Rush, Stardust), Emilia Fox (Silent Witness, Delicious), Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake), James Fleet (Outlander, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Judi Dench (Philomena, Skyfall).
BLITHE SPIRIT is a riotous reimagining of Noel Coward’s classic comedy, about love that just won’t die…
Producing is James Spring (Fisherman’s Friends, Easy Virtue), Meg Leonard (Fisherman’s Friends, Finding Your Feet), Nick Moorcroft (Fisherman’s Friends, Finding Your Feet),Hilary Bevan Jones (Pirate Radio), Peter Snell (The Wicker Man), and Toni Pinnolis.
Align, a newly formed LA based production and financing group, is fully financing with additional equity provided by Fred Films. Align CEO Adrian Politowski and SVP of Production Martin Metz are producing on behalf of Align.
STUDIOCANAL has acquired BLITHE SPIRIT for the UK following an incredibly successful Cannes market, with Protagonist closing several key territories including Australia/New Zealand (Transmission), Spain (A Contracorriente), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Latin America (Cinepolis), Portugal (NOS Lusomundo), CIS/Baltics (Paradise), Eastern Europe (M2), Greece/Cyprus (Tanweer), Israel (Forum Films), Philippines (Pioneer), Taiwan (Cai Chang), the Middle East (Front Row), South Africa (Empire) and Airlines (Echo Lake).
Best-selling crime novelist Charles (Stevens) is struggling with catastrophic writer’s block and a stressful deadline for his first screenplay. His picture-perfect second wife Ruth (Fisher) is doing her best to keep him focussed in the hope of fulfilling her dream of heading to Hollywood. Charles’ desperate search for inspiration leads him to invite Madame Arcati (Dench), a medium recently exposed as a fraud, to perform a séance in their home. They all get more than they bargained for when Arcati accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife: the fiery and jealous Elvira (Leslie Mann) who embarks on a mission to kill Charles so she can spend eternity with him which leads to an increasingly comical and deadly love triangle.
What do you think of Leslie Mann joining the cast? Will you be watching this film when it arrives in cinemas? As always, we like to know your thoughts, so leave a comment below, tweet us @filmandtvnow or drop us a comment on our Facebook page.
