31/08/2009

Leading British distributor Optimum Releasing will make its first foray into production with an adaptation of Graham Greene’s 1939 novel Brighton Rock. Screenwriter Rowan Joffe (Last Resort) will make his directorial debut with the film.

Helen Mirren, Pete Postlethwaite, Sam Riley and Andrea Riseborough will star and Paul Webster (Atonement [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) will produce. The film will be made in association with BBC Films, Studio Canal and the UK Film Council (UKFC) and will begin principal photography on October 18 in Brighton and London locations.

Optimum will release the film in the UK. Studio Canal will handle international sales and will also distribute in France and Germany (through its Kinowelt division).

Brighton Rock looks at the moral decline of murderous teen Pinkie. Joffe has reset the film in 1964. He said, “We’re making Brighton Rock as contemporary as we possibly can because the story feels ‘modern’. It’s too alive, too vibrant and too relevant to be contained in the late thirties. Any form of adaptation is corruption. And Greene – who lovingly and pragmatically corrupted much of his own work to fit the big screen – would have been the first to understand that.”

Webster said, “Rowan has written a formidable script that has attracted a cast that is a perfect blend of youth and experience. The scene is set to make a truly great British gangster film.”

Optimum CEO Will Clarke said, “We are delighted that the first production for Optimum and Studio Canal’s Production venture combines such elements of quality in such a commercial project.”

Richard Attenborough starred in the 1947 adaptation of Brighton Rock, directed by John Boulting.