Blithe Spirit: StudioCanal Among Buyers Of Comedy With Dan Stevens & Judi Dench, Shoot Under Way
Principal photography is under way in UK on comedy feature Blithe Spirit, starring Dan Stevens (Beauty And The Beast), Isla Fisher (The Beach Bum), Julian Rhind-Tut (Rush), Emilia Fox (Silent Witness), Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake), James Fleet (Outlander) and Judi Dench (Skyfall). As we revealed yesterday, Leslie Mann (This is 40) has also joined in a lead role.
StudioCanal has acquired the film for the UK with Protagonist also closing several territories in Cannes 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).
Edward Hall (Downton Abbey) is directing from Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard and Piers Ashworths adaptation of the Noel Coward play about best-selling crime novelist Charles (Stevens) who is struggling with catastrophic writers 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.
Producing are James Spring (Fishermans Friends), Meg Leonard (Fishermans Friends), Nick Moorcroft (Fishermans Friends), Hilary Bevan Jones (PirRead More – Source
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Deadline
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