Start-up production company Octagon Films will co-produce a version of Tristan And Isolde with Ridley Scott's Scott Free, to be directed by Kevin Reynolds - while at the same time Intermedia and Metropolitan Filmexport have teamed to finance and sell their own Tristan & Iseult, to which Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata) is attached to direct.

Octagon Films has been set up by leading Irish producers Morgan O' Sullivan of World 2000 and James Flynn of Metropolitan Films, and veteran German producer Willi Baer and his partner Winfried Hamacher of Essen-based W2.

That the two similar-sounding projects each also include the involvement of a Metropolitan-titled company, does little to ease potential confusion between them.

Ireland-based Metropolitan Films' James Flynn and partner Juanita Wilson were, among other things, financial consultants on Neil Jordan's The Good Thief and Jackie Chan's Highbinders.

Meanwhile, French independent, Metropolitan Filmexport's Samuel and Victor Hadida were the producers behind Davis Film's hit French title The Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups) (Screendaily 19 May).

The quartet behind Octagon, whose new company is based at Ireland's Ardmore Studios, will pool their extensive production and finance expertise to develop feature films for the international market and have brought Catherine Tiernan, formerly of Ocean Films (The Fifth Province) onboard as a producer.

In addition to the Dean Georgaris-scripted Tristan And Isolde, Octagon's current slate includes: The Godmother, a fantasy comedy about a woman who returns from holidays with a divine baby, written by Wesley Burrowes (Rat); As If I Am Not There, scripted by Elisabeth Gilek and based on Slavenka Drakulic's acclaimed novel set in the Balkan conflict; and an adaptation of Emily Prager's novel Roger Fishbite, a satire on life as seen through the eyes of a precocious 13 year old New Yorker.

Octagon is also seeking co-production partners to work on a joint venture basis on Irish-based film projects and can provide line production management to incoming international productions as well as procure Section 481 investment.

Morgan O' Sullivan's recent executive producer and co-producer credits include Reynolds' The Count Of Monte Cristo, Bob Bowman's Reign Of Fire and currently Joel Schumacher's Chasing The Dragon.

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