Beta Cinema has boarded international sales on Nick Hamm’s English-language feature William Tell, based on the classic story of the crossbow warrior who shot an arrow through an apple on his son’s head and launched the struggle for Swiss independence.
Written and directed by Hamm, William Tell stars Claes Bang as Tell alongside Connor Swindells, Ellie Bamber, Golshifteh Farahani, Jonah Hauer-King, Rafe Spall, Emily Beecham as well as Jonathan Pryce and Ben Kingsley.
Beta Cinema and production companies Free Turn Films and Tempo Productions have also released a first look of image of the UK-Swiss-Italian co-production which is in its last week of principal photography in Italy. Beta Cinema is representing worldwide sales rights on the film with WME Independent handling North American rights.
The film’s screenplay is written by Hamm, adapted from Friedrich Schiller’s famous play. The narrative unfolds in the 14th century amid the waning days of the Holy Roman Empire when ambitious Austrians encroach upon Switzerland in the search for land. William Tell, a formerly peaceful hunter, is forced to take action as his family and homeland come under threat from the Austrian King and his warlords. Leading his fellow countrymen, Tell embarks on a courageous rebellion.
Hamm’s 2018 feature Driven closed the Venice Film Festival in 2018, while his previous directing credits include Netflix series White Lines, 2022 feature Gigi & Nate as well as Venice and TIFF title The Journey and 2011 feature Killing Bono.
Hamm said: “Tell’s story has a relevance and immediacy that is strikingly contemporary. The Apple Scene in particular has gripped the world’s imagination for hundreds of years and yet has never been dramatized in modern cinema. As a filmmaker I couldn’t ask for a more exceptional cast to bring this story to life.”
William Tell is a Free Turn and Tempo production with Groenlandia, in association with DNeg Films supported by the IDM Film Fund.
The film is produced by UK producer Piers Tempest, whose credits include Bank Of Dave, The Wife, Driven, Military Wives and Emily and Swiss producer Marie-Christine Jaeger-Firmenich. Both Jaeger-Firmenich and Tempest produced Hamm’s Gigi & Nate.
Behind the scenes talent includes DoP Jamie Ramsay, whose shot Living and See How They Run and editor Tariq Anwar, who is Oscar nominated for The King’s Speech and American Beauty.
William Tell is the biggest film project that sales and financier Beta Cinema, a subsidiary of Jan Mojto’s European media group Beta Film, has handled, the company said.
Tassilo Hallbauer, head of sales and acquisitions at Beta Cinema, said: “Coming from a team of highly successful producers, helmed by acclaimed director Nick Hamm and studded with a top-class cast right down to the smallest roles, we are thrilled to add this universal, action-loaded and inspiring project to our line-up. The legend of Tell, his crossbow and the apple is known all over the world. We now want to bring the story behind the saga into cinemas around the globe.”
Bang is best known for playing the lead role in Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner The Square and for the role of Fjölnir in Robert Eggers’s 2022 film The Northman.
Executive producers include Jon Hamm, David Nichols and Francesco Marras.
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