Weisz swims in The Deep Blue Sea

by Naman Ramachandran

17/11/2010 - Oscar-winning British star Rachel Weisz plays the lead in maestro Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, principal photography for which commenced in and around London on November 17.

Also participating in the five-week shoot are Olivier Award winner Tom Hiddleston (Archipelago [trailer]) and BAFTA and Olivier Award-winning theatre actor Simon Russell Beale (An Ideal Husband).

The Deep Blue Sea is an adaptation, by Davies, of the eponymous Terence Rattigan play. Davies is best known for Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, both set in Liverpool in the 1940s and 1950s. He also directed the literary adaptations The Neon Bible and The House of Mirth with Gillian Anderson. Most recently, Davies directed Of Time and the City [trailer], a documentary portrait of his hometown of Liverpool.

Weisz stars as Hester Collyer, who leads a privileged life in 1950’s London as the beautiful wife of judge Sir William Collyer (Russell Beale). To the shock of those around her, she walks out on her marriage to move in with dashing young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page (Hiddleston), with whom she has fallen passionately in love.

The film is produced by Sean O'Connor and Kate Ogborn (This Is England [trailer], The Red Riding Trilogy) and co-funded by Film4, the UK Film Council, Lipsync Productions, Protagonist Pictures, Fulcrum Media Finance and Artificial Eye. International sales are being handled by Protagonist Pictures.

Artificial Eye will release the film towards the end of 2011.