Owen, Riseborough to star in Marsh thriller

by Naman Ramachandran

08/04/2011 - British actors Clive Owen (Elizabeth: The Golden Age [trailer]) and Andrea Riseborough (Brighton Rock [trailer]) will star in James Marsh’s upcoming untitled spy thriller.

Marsh won an Oscar and a BAFTA besides a clutch of international awards for his documentary Man on Wire [trailer]. His forthcoming documentary Project Nim, about a chimpanzee raised like a human being in the 70s, is due for release later this year.

The new feature is based on Tom Bradby’s bestseller Shadow Dancer and has a screenplay by him. Set in the 1990s during the Northern Ireland peace process, the script follows Riseborough’s character, who is an IRA terrorist forced to turn informer, with Owen playing her MI5 handler.

Irish actor Aiden Gillen (Wake Wood [trailer]) and Gillian Anderson (Boogie Woogie [trailer]) are also part of the cast. Chris Coen (Funny Games U.S.) will produce.

The film is a co-production between the UK’s BBC Films, UK Film Studio PLC, Unanimous Pictures and Ireland’s Element Pictures.

Marsh likened the film to his 2009 feature Red Riding: In The Year of Our Lord 1980, saying, “It’s much more like Red Riding, it’s a genre film, it’s a thriller. It's very exciting to be doing something like that now, to have that kind of canvas to fill. It’s a low-budget film, it’s not a Hollywood movie by any means.”

Principal photography is expected to commence at Dublin locations in May.