Justin Kurzel’s UK-Germany sci-fi thriller Morning, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Laura Dern, Noah Jupe and Naomi Ackie, is set to shoot in Germany after receiving €2m from FFF Bayern’s funding programme for international theatrical features and series.
The project is based on a screenplay by Screen Star of Tomorrow Sam Steiner and is produced by Cumberbatch and his partners Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland through their UK company SunnyMarch with Maximilian Leo and Jonas Katzenstein of Cologne-based augenschein Filmproduktion and actress-producer Veronica Ferres of Munich’s Construction Film.
It is a co-production with Laura Dern and Jayme Lemons’ Santa Monica-based Jaywalker Pictures, producer Mary Aloe’s Aloe Entertainment, Mac Pac Entertainment and Fit Via Vi, SugarRush Pictures and Echobend Pictures.
Around two thirds of the film’s shoot will take place at locations in and around Munich.
FFY Bayern has also awarded €1m to Christophe Gans’ video game sequel Return To Silent Hill, which is being structured as a co-production between Germany’s Maze Pictures, Paris-based Metropolitan and Davis Films as well as The Electric Shadow Company and Lotus Wallace in London.
Half of the film’s shoot will be undertaken throughout Bavaria at locations in Munich, Nuremberg, Rossberg and around the Ammersee lake as well at the new Penzing film studios west of Munich.
In addition, the Bavarian fund has awarded €500,000 to Munich VFX company Rise FX South to work on the visual effects for the Marvel Studios sci-fi TV series Ironheart (also known under the working title of Wise Guy) directed by Samantha Bailey & Angela Barnes from a screenplay by Chinaka Hodge.
Theatrical feature films applying for funding from FF Bayern must have total production costs of at least €5m and provide evidence of a contract with a German distributor (Morning has Capelight Pictures onboard, and Leonine Distribution is the local distribution partner for Return To Silent Hill). Moreover, the programme’s guidelines require that a considerable part of the production - in the case of theatrical films, at least half of the shooting days - must take place in Bavaria
Other projects recently supported by the dedicated programme for international co-productions included Rupert Sanders’ The Crow remake - which was also granted the maximum funding amount of € 2m -, Constantin Television’s six-part high-end series Hagen based on Wolfgang Hohlbein 1986 novel Hagen von Tronje, and Studio 100 Media’s international animated feature Heidi - Saving The Lynxes.
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