When the Cold War was almost brought to an end in Iceland
- Oscar-winning actors Michael Douglas and Christoph Waltz will star in Reykjavik, UK director Mike Newell’s depiction of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in 1986
Having just launched his take on Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations [+see also:
trailer
film profile], with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter in the leads, UK director Mike Newell is preparing for another summit with more far-reaching perspectives: the 1986 summit of US President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union’s Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik.
US double Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas (Wall Street) will be the American head of state at the meeting in Reykjavik’s former French consulate Höf∂i with the Soviet leader played by Austrian actor Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained).
Scripted by Kevin Hood,the film will start principal photography in March on locations in Reykjavik, Iceland, and in Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Germany, for UK producer Ridley Scott’s UK-US outfit Scott Free Productions, Headline Pictures, Participant Media and Mark Sennet Productions. UK’s Hanway Films handles international sales.
Reykjavik follows the Reagan-Gorbachev talks on October 11-12, which eventually collapsed at the last minute, but facilitated the INF Treaty, which was signed at the Washington Summit on December 8, 1987, eliminating nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges. By June 1, 1991, 2,692 missiles had been destroyed.
“The film will offer its audiences a unique look into two larger-than-life figures – Reagan and Gorbachev – who served as the catalysts for one of the most defining moments in our history, the end of the Cold War," explained Scott.
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