EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has bought Ralph Fiennes-Jessica Chastain-Star The Forgiven, who finally completed the shoot, worldwide rights excluding North America.
Previously announced Fiennes, Chastain, Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) and Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class) include Matt Smith (The Crown), Christopher Abbott (The Sinner) and Ismael Kanater (Queen Of The) Desert) , Marie-Josée Croze (Munich), Alex Jennings (Die Krone) and Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road).
John Michael McDonagh (The Guard) directs and adapts Lawrence Osborne’s novel, which explores the repercussions of a random accident in the lives of an Anglo-American couple, friends, and local Moroccans who all converged in a luxurious desert villa weekend party for a decade.
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Below and above are two first images of the expected project that has been on quite a journey thanks to the pandemic.
The forgiven
Issomour Films
The picture was taken on location in Morocco in the first half of 2020 before being suspended due to the global outbreak towards the end of filming. After an interruption in air traffic, producers had to charter planes at short notice to fly the cast and crew home. With financial support from the BFI COVID-19 Production Continuation Fund and additional funding from the producers LipSync Productions and Focus, the shoot was resumed last month after a six-month break in Morocco and has now completed production.
Elizabeth Eves and McDonagh co-produced with Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon of Brookstreet Pictures on their House of Un-American Activities label. Carter Stanton of Brookstreet Pictures and Mark Lane and James Harris of Tea Shop Productions are co-producers. Kate Glover was a line producer.
Brookstreet Pictures is funding the film alongside LipSync Productions, Film4, Head Gear, Metrol Technology, and Assemble Media. Executive producers are Norman Merry for LipSync Productions, Daniel Battsek and Ollie Madden for Film4, Phil Hunt and Compton Ross for Head Gear Films, and Jack Heller and Scott Veltri for Assemble Media.
Universal Pictures International will distribute internationally for Focus. Film4 has UK television rights.
John Michael McDonagh commented: “It is a great pleasure for us to bring Lawrence Osborne’s masterpiece to the screen and to found our House of Un-American Activities with a film in the great European tradition. Our international cast and crew have acted beyond the obligation in this case, and we firmly believe that audiences worldwide will appreciate the persistence. With or without a mask. “
Elizabeth Eves added, “As with the Moroccan countryside we were shooting in, the production of this film was both spectacular and hostile. We would like to thank everyone who helped us complete a difficult but rewarding shoot. “
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