– Master of the House: Davenport –
by Alex Ritman | Variety | November 7, 2024
Production on the Bleecker Street film, which The Veterans is selling at the AFM, has now begun in the U.K.
Damian Lewis (Billions), Tom Felton (Harry Potter franchise) and Ben Radcliffe (Masters of the Air) have joined the cast of Brit period comedy Fackham Hall alongside the previously announced Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston and Emma Laird.
From director Jim O’Hanlon and created by comedian Jimmy Carr (who will play a supporting role), the film is set to begin principal photography this week in the U.K.
In fact, shooting has started this week and some cast were spotted filming in Merseyside Village, specifically the historic Wirral village of Thornton Hough.
Mews Films and Two & Two Pictures are producing, with Bleecker Street releasing in the U.S.
Described as a spoof comedy movie in the vein of “Airplane!” and the “Monty Python” movies by writers Jimmy Carr, Patrick Carr and the Dawson Brothers, “Fackham Hall” follows loveable pick-pocket Eric Noone (Radcliffe) as he lands a job at English manor house Fackham Hall. He quickly rises through the ranks and a forbidden romance with lady-of-the-house Rose Davenport (McKenzie) blossoms. But when an unexpected murder occurs, Eric gets framed — leaving Rose and her family’s future perilously uncertain. Lewis will play master-of-the-house Lord Davenport while Felton is Archibald, Eric’s main rival for Rose’s hand.
The film will be produced by Kris Thykier and Danny Perkins under Mews Films, a new comedy production label established by their Archery Pictures and Elysium Film Group banners, and Mila Cottray for Two & Two Pictures. Executive producers include Bleecker Street’s Andrew Karpen and Kent Sanderson, Two & Two Pictures’ Babak Anvari and Lucan Toh, Danielle Brandon and Georgia Goldsack for Archery Pictures and Anonymous Content’s Nick Shumaker and David Levine. Ashland Hill Media Finance is fully financing the project and Simon Williams, Joe Simpson and Jonathan Bross will also executive produce.
The Veterans is representing the international rights to the film. Bleecker Street acquired the U.S. rights in 2023 out of TIFF and plans to release the film nationwide in 2025.
“‘I’m so excited to be starting principal photography on ‘Fackham Hall.’ We’ve assembled a stellar cast which would be the envy of any serious British period drama,” said director O’Hanlon. “This is doubly impressive given the fact that we are not in fact a serious British period drama, but a hilarious, laugh-out-loud, snort-Earl Grey-tea-out-your-nostrils British period comedy. Happily, our magnificent cast are as adept at making audiences laugh as they are at making them cry, so we’ve got the best of both worlds in one film! I can’t wait to get started.”
Producers Thykier, Perkins and Cottray said: “We’re thrilled to kick off filming on what promises to be a hilarious, quintessentially British comedy caper. With this stellar cast and a razor-sharp script that only Jimmy Carr (alongside the brilliant Dawson Brothers) could have dreamed up, this film will be a riot, combining wit, irreverence, and a love for the absurd, from start to finish. We can’t wait to bring this unique spoof to life and, ultimately, to audiences everywhere!”
Added writer Carr: “Future generations of film students will mention ‘Fackham Hall’ in the same sentence as Merchant Ivory. And that sentence will be ‘Fackham Hall’ was an insult to Merchant Ivory.”
Lewis is repped by Markham, Froggatt and Irwin, UTA, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein. Felton is repped by Accelerate, Gersh Agency, Entertainment 360, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark. Radcliffe is repped by Waring McKenna. O’Hanlon is represented by Gersh and The Artists Partnership.
Read the rest of the original article at Variety