After a week of profitwarnings and falling share prices, Pinewood-Shepperton studios can finallyannounce some good news.
Universal's adaptation ofthe PD James' novel Children Of Men, to be directed by Alfonso Cuaron,is setting up shop at Pinewood Studios - and looks certain to shoot there fromearly autumn.
"I've been able topersuade the powers that be that the film should be made in Britain,"producer Iain Smith said today.
"My basic technique wasto say this was a film that was written to be shot in London. Alfonso Cuaronwants to make it in London and I can prove that the differential in cost [asopposed to shooting elsewhere] is minimal."
Smith added that the film'sarrival in the UK was "good news" for a production sector that haslooked increasingly beleaguered in recent months as the strong pound andchanges to tax legislation made Hollywood wary about coming to Britain.
"I hope that we canprove a point that will remove this hex which has been on us [in the Britishindustry] a little this year."
Children Of Men, which stars Clive Owen, is based on James' noveland set in a near future, where mankind has lost the ability to procreate.
Civilisation has given wayto cruelty and despair, and historian Theo Faron (Owen's character) has almostresigned himself to apathy, before a band of revolutionaries enlist him in ascheme that may prove key to humanity's survival.
Shooting is expected tobegin in mid-September.
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