SPENCER, new pic Kristen Stewart as Princess Di & film to UK for final lap

Curated by Screenmancer Staff

Production on Pablo Larraín’s SPENCER has moved to the UK for the final stretch of filming. The film focuses on one weekend in the life of Princess Diana, as she spends the Christmas holiday with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, and decides to leave her marriage to Prince Charles. Filming  has been taking place in Germany, before moving to the UK. An autumn 2021 launch is anticipated. 2022 marks the 25th  anniversary of Diana’s death.

December, 1991: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage has long since grown cold. Though rumours of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at Sandringham Estate. There’s eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game. This year, things will be a whole lot different.

Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria) is Princess Diana, further cast include BAFTA Award nominee Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner, The Party), Academy Award nominee Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Paddington) and Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Prometheus). Jack Farthing (Poldark, Official Secrets) plays Prince Charles.

SPENCER is directed by Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Neruda) and written by Steven Knight (Locke, Peaky Blinders and Academy Award nominee for Dirty Pretty Things). The film is produced by Juan de Dios Larraín (Jackie, A Fantastic Woman, Gloria) for Fabula Films, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski (Toni Erdmann, A Fantastic Woman) for Komplizen Film and BAFTA award winner and Academy award nominee Paul Webster (Anna Karenina, Atonement) for Shoebox Films.

Larraín’s creative team includes Director of Photography Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran (Academy award-winner for Little Women and Anna Karenina), Make Up and Hair Designer Wakana Yoshihara (Murder On The Orient Express, High Rise) and Guy Hendrix Dyas (Academy Award nominee for Passengers and Inception) is the Production Designer. Composing the original score is Academy Award, BAFTA and Grammy Award nominee, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood (You Were Never Really Here, Phantom Thread).

Executive  producers  are  Tom  Quinn,  Jeff  Deutchman  and  Christina  Zisa  for  NEON  and  Michael  Bloom,  Maria Zuckerman and Ryan Heller for Topic Studios.

FilmNation Entertainment handled international sales with all key territories selling out of the Cannes virtual market. The CAA Media Finance group and Endeavor Content sold to NEON and Topic Studios to distribute in the United States, STXinternational will distribute the film in the UK, France, Italy and Benelux and DCM will distribute in Germany. Other territories sold include: Australia/NZ (Roadshow), Latin America, Spain and Portugal (Sun), South Korea (Green Narae), Japan  (Tohokushina),  Scandinavia  (Scanbox),  Canada  (Elevation),  CIS/Baltics  (Central  Partnership),  Eastern  Europe (Forum), Middle East (Italia), Singapore (Shaw), Greece/Cyprus (Spentzos), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), India/Pakistan (Impact  Films  India),  Israel  (Lev),  Turkey  (FilmArti),  South  Africa  (Empire),  Taiwan  (Moviecloud)  and  Thailand  (M Pictures).

Spencer is supported by the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Federal

Film Board (FFA), Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and HessenFilm und Medien.

All the entities involved are:

Komplizen Film was founded in 1999 by Janine Jackowski and Maren Ade during their studies at the Munich Academy for Film and Television. In 2010, they were joined by Jonas Dornbach as managing director and producer. Komplizen Film develops arthouse feature films and international co-productions for the cinema and high quality TV series. We seek out  projects  that  have  a  special  regional  and  cultural  character,  projects  that  encourage  us  to  think  beyond boundaries. We appreciate cinematic scripts and directors that exhibit a unique signature style. We believe in building long-term relationships with directors and production partners.

Komplizen Film was awarded the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico 2019 – Best Producer Award of the Locarno Film Festival and the DEFA Foundation Prize for Outstanding Achievements in German Film 2015.

Filmography  includes:  Exile (Visar Morina), Skylines (Dennis Schanz),  The Space Between the Lines  (Vanessa Jopp), Giraffe (Anna Sofie Hartmann), The Fever (Maya Da-Rin), The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu), O Beautiful Night (Xaver Böhm), Synonyms (Nadav Lapid), A Tale Of Three Sisters (Emin Alper) A Kasha (Hajooj Kuka), I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians (Radu Jude),    Western (Valeska Grisebach), Una Mujer Fantástica (Sebastián Lelio), Scarred Hearts (Radu Jude), Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade), Arabian Nights (Miguel Gomes), Hedi Schneider Is Stuck (Sonja Heiss),  Love  Island  (Jasmila  Zbanic),  Lies  (Vanessa  Jopp),  Superegos  (Benjamin  Heisenberg),  Redemption  (Miguel Gomes), Tanta Agua (Ana Guevara & Leticia Jorge), The Dead And The Living (Barbara Albert), Tabu (Miguel Gomes), Sleeping  Sickness  (Ulrich  Köhler),  Everyone  Else  (Maren  Ade),   The  Noise  In  My  Head  (Vincent  Pluss),   Hotel  Very Welcome (Sonja Heiss), The Forest For The Trees (Maren Ade), Karma Cowboy (Sonja Heiss).

Fabula Films is the most prolific film production company in Latin America, best known for A Fantastic Woman, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018. Founded in 2004 by Juan de Dios Larraín (producer) and Pablo Larraín (director/producer), its work spans over film, television, advertising and production services. They have produced more than 27 films, 800 commercials and three TV series.

Fabula’s first English language film, Jackie, directed by Pablo Larraín, was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Natalie Portman. Larraín also directed The Club, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale 2015; No nominated for an Academy Award in 2013, and awarded Best Film at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival 2012 and Ema, Larraín’s latest film,

Shoebox Films is  the  dynamic  film  production  company  run  by  the  award-winning  team  of  producers  Paul  Webster

(Atonement,   Eastern  Promises,   Radioactive)   and   Guy   Heeley   (Locke,   Hummingbird)   and   director   Joe   Wright (Atonement,  Darkest Hour and the forthcoming Cyrano). Between them, the Shoebox team have been responsible for many  of  the  UK’s  most  commercially  and  critically  successful  films.  We  work  with  established  talent  but  also  are dedicated to supporting emerging talent such as Jessica Swale (Summerland), Francis Lee (God’s Own Country) and

Zeina Durra (Luxor).

Since  2011,  Shoebox  has produced  five  movies  with  the  Oscar  nominated  writer/director  Steven  Knight  including Hummingbird and the acclaimed Locke, starring Tom Hardy. 2021 will see Spencer directed by Pablo Larrain go before the cameras as well as the completion of Joe Wright’s latest Cyrano.

ErosSTX International, a division of Eros STX Global Corporation, is a full-service international film distribution and financing company with direct distribution of both Hollywood and Bollywood content in India, the UK, Ireland and the Middle East. Headquartered in London, the company has formalized an unrivalled network of key output deals with the major market leaders in 25 territories with a reach covering over 150 countries around the world. Embracing the unique  opportunities  in  the  international  marketplace,  the  company  recently  closed  an  innovative  and  dynamic distribution output partnership with Amazon in the UK, France and Italy.

STXinternational’s successes include distributing both STXfilms’ productions and third party acquisitions, working with filmmakers   including   Ridley   Scott,   Guy   Ritchie   and   Michael   Mann,   as   well   as   producing   partners   like Imperative/30West, Thunder Road, Black Label Media, Miramax, and Scott Free.  In addition, STXinternational recently entered  into  an  exclusive,  multi-year  international  distribution  output  deal  with  leading  independent  production powerhouse, Black Bear Pictures. The STXinternational film slate includes: global box office hit Hustlers, the Bad Moms franchise, the upcoming Greenland starring Gerard Butler, The Mauritanian starring Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim and Benedict Cumberbatch,  Untitled  Guy Ritchie Project  directed  by  Guy  Ritchie  and  starring  Jason Statham,  Devotion directed by JD Dillard and starring Glen Powell and Jonathan Majors, and  Cop Shop directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Gerard Butler.

NEON in just over three years? NEON has garnered 12 Academy Award® nominations, 5 wins, including Best Picture, and has grossed over $150M at the box office. The company continues to push boundaries and take creative risks on bold cinema such as Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which made history winning four Academy Awards®, becoming the first non- English-language  film  to  claim  Best Picture. The film, which also  unanimously won the Palme  d’Or at Cannes,  has amassed over $53M at the domestic box office and broke multiple records including highest per screen average of the year and highest per screen average for a foreign language film of all time. NEON has amassed a library of over 50 films  with  noteworthy  releases  including:  Tamara  Kotevska  and  Ljubo  Stefanov’s  award-winning  and  record- breaking Honeyland, which is the first non-fiction feature to land Academy Award® nominations for Best Documentary and  Best  International  Feature  Film  in  the  same  year;  Todd  Douglas  Miller’s Apollo  11,  2019’s  highest  grossing documentary with a worldwide gross of $16M; Tim Wardle’s Three Identical Strangers, winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award for Storytelling which surpassed $13M at the box office; and Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya, which garnered multiple Academy Award® nominations, one win for Allison Janney and amassed over $30M in domestic box office.

The    company has    several    projects    in    various    stages    of    development    and    production,    including Pablo Larraín’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart; Ben Wheatley’s Horror Film In The Earth which will make its World Premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival; and The Painter and the Thief narrative remake.  NEON continues to be an impressive force, with recent acquisitions such as:  Andrei Konchalovsky’s Dear Comrades!, Russia’s Academy Award Submission; Venice’s Grand Jury Prize Winner Michel Franco’s New Order; Night of Kings, Philippe Lacôte’s Ivory Coast Oscar   Submission; Pig,   starring   Nicolas   Cage;   Apichatpong   Weerasethakul’s Memoria with Tilda   Swinton;   the upcoming  documentary Gunda directed  by  Victor  Kossakovsky  and  executive  produced  by  Joaquin  Phoenix;  and Robert  Machoian’s  powerful  thriller The  Killing  of  Two  Lovers.   Recent  releases  include:  Francis  Lee’s  romantic drama Ammonite starring    Kate    Winslet    and    Saoirse    Ronan;    Alex’s    Gibney’s    documentary Totally    Under Control;  Brandon     Cronenberg’s Possessor;     Justin     Simien’s Bad     Hair; Max     Barbakow’s     sought     after Palm Springs starring  Andy  Samberg,  which  NEON  acquired  with  Hulu;  Amy  Seimtz’s  SXSW  critical  sensation She  Dies Tomorrow;    Josephine    Decker’s Shirley starring    Elisabeth    Moss;    Matt    Wolf’s    highly    acclaimed Sundance documentary Spaceship Earth; The Painter and the Thief directed by Benjamin Ree; and the critically acclaimed Cannes hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes® and Independent Spirit Awards. After their successful collaboration on I, Tonya in January 2018, 30WEST (Dan Friedkin’s and Micah Green’s strategic venture)  partnered  with  NEON’s  Tom  Quinn  (Founder  &  CEO)  and  Tim  League  (Co-Founder)  to  become  majority investors in the company.

Topic  Studios,  the  award-winning  entertainment  studio  from  First  Look  Media,  develops,  finances  and  produces provocative and entertaining content for all platforms including theatrical, streaming, television and podcasts. From Academy  Award®  winning  films   (Spotlight);  to  documentaries  (The Fight,  co-released  with  Magnolia  Pictures and Mucho Mucho Amor on Netflix); to television (the Film Independent Spirit Award® nominated docu-series Love Fraud and the Emmy Award® winning and Peabody Award® nominated “16 Shots,” both on Showtime, and the Emmy Award® nominated Losers on Netflix); and pioneering podcasts (the return of Politically Re-Active with W. Kamau Bell and   Hari   Kondabolu   on   Warner   Media   Podcast   Network, Missing   Richard   Simmons,   the   Peabody   Award® nominated Running  from COPS, Anthem written  by  John  Cameron Mitchell & Bryan Weller,  featuring  Glenn  Close, Cynthia    Erivo    and    Patti    LuPone;    and    the    IDA    Award®    winning    investigative    podcast, Somebody, with iHeartMedia). Films  from  Topic  Studios  include  Michael  Angelo  Covino’s The  Climb (Sony  Pictures  Classics);  Euros Lyn’s Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis (with Bleecker Street); and The Nowhere Inn written by and starring Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia) and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent).

Topic  Studios kicked off 2020  with seven projects  at the Sundance  Film  Festival, including awards contenders The Fight and A Thousand Cuts. Upcoming projects from the studio includeThe Mauritanian, a political drama directed by Kevin   Macdonald   and   starring   Jodie   Foster,   Benedict   Cumberbatch,   Tahar   Rahim   and   Shailene   Woodley (STXfilms);     Daniel    Antebi’s    NYC-set    pandemic    comedy God’s    Time, produced    by Watch    This    Ready, The Climb’s filmmaker  shingle  with  whom  the  Topic  Studios  has  a  first-look  deal;  and  a  film  exploring  the  connection between  Chinatown  restaurants  and  the  rise  of  punk  music  produced  by  and  starring  Golden  Globe®  winner Awkwafina. Topic Studios is also ramping up its scripted television division, having set up two premium dramas arising from  their  previous  first-look  deal  with  Tracy  Oliver  (Girls  Trip),  including  the  adult thriller Savannah with PKM Productions for Amazon Studios; and is developing an English-language adaptation of the critically acclaimed Israeli HOT comedy, Nehama, among other projects. Topic Studios also recently signed a first-look deal across all media with The Population, the independent production company formed by producers Mynette Louie, Mollye Asher, and Derek Nguyen. In podcasting, Topic Studios recently released The Messenger on Audible Plus and has partnered with Zachary Quinto’s Before the Door Pictures, Vespucci Group, Spoke Media and writer Rafael Moraes to develop Secret Court, a scripted podcast series based on the story of a clandestine purge of gay students from the Harvard class of 1920.

DCM was founded in 2008 by Dario Suter, Christoph Daniel and Marc Schmidheiny. When in 2010 Joel Brandeis joined the three partners – who gave the company its name – DCM became a Swiss quartet. Every year we release 10 to 12 movies in German and Swiss theatres, which consist of international purchases as well as our national and international original productions. Our team is built like a creative agency with specialized departments for all marketing, press and sales activities. The combination of big data knowledge, well-grown relationships to theatres and media power stands for campaigns with high coverage. Reaching exactly the right target group with efficient campaigns is the goal of every release.  Our  passion  is  to  inspire  the  audience  with  outstanding  content.  References  and  more  information: www.dcmworld.com

FilmNation Entertainment is a leading producer, financier and distributor of independent films, television, theatre, audio and new media. Since being founded in 2008, FilmNation has grown organically from its roots in independent film by leveraging its bold creative taste and experience entertaining global audiences. FilmNation has worked with many of the world’s most renowned filmmakers and storytellers including Steven Soderbergh, Terrence Malick, Sofia Coppola, Pedro  Almodóvar, Rian Johnson, Julie Taymor, Armando  Iannucci, Emerald Fennell and Denis Villeneuve.

Consistently  ranked  as  one  of  the  highest-grossing  independent  international  film  distributors,  FilmNation  has intensified its focus on content creation in recent years, bringing to life award-winning box office hits that include Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival starring Amy Adams and Kumail Nanjiani’s and Emily V. Gordon’s The Big Sick. FilmNation sold and internationally distributed four-time Academy Award®-winner The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth, Pedro Almodovar’s Dolor  Y  Gloria starring  Antonio  Banderas  and  Penelope  Cruz, The  Imitation  Game starring  Benedict Cumberbatch, and Lenny Abrahamson’s Room for which Brie Larson garnered the Academy Award® for Best Actress.

Recent FilmNation productions include Greyhound starring Tom Hanks, Sean Durkin’s The Nest starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon, Dominic Cooke’s The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan, Emerald Fennell’s Promising    Young    Woman    starring    Carey    Mulligan,    Armando    Iannucci’s The    Personal    History    Of    David Copperfield starring Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie, Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence starring Hugh Jackman, Damian

Szifron’s Misanthrope starring Shailene Woodley, and The Good House starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver.

The independent studio kicked off its release of high-profile global television projects with Derek Cianfrance’s Emmy Award winning I Know This Much Is True starring Mark Ruffalo on HBO. The company announced in early 2019 the launch of its UK-based television production company with Nordic Entertainment Group. The company has broadened its  platform  with  strategic  investments  into  other  storytelling  arenas,  including  theatrical  productions  of  10  Tony winning musical The Band’s Visit and the West End’s critically acclaimed True West. The company made its foray into the audio space with podcast Hyper-Thetical and Murder on the Towpath for Luminary and continues to build its audio slate and digital content.

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