Monday, April 30, 2012

Principal Photography Begins on Jonathan Teplitzky's 'The Railway Man'

This release comes courtesy of Transmission Films.


Australia's Transmission Films has welcomed the start of filming in Scotland today of The Railway Man, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky and starring Oscar winners Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman and emerging star Jeremy Irvine.

Stellas Skarsgard and Hiroyuki Sanada have also joined the stellar cast.

Principal photography starts in Scotland on April 30. The 10-week shoot then moves to Thailand and Queensland, Australia.

Adapted by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson from Eric Lomax's best-selling book, The Railway Man is the epic true story of a war hero and the woman who matched his courage to reclaim the man she loved.

Eric Lomax (Firth) was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during WWII. Years later, still haunted by memories of brutality and torture, he met a beautiful woman on a train.

Patti (Kidman) was determined to rid Eric of his demons. With the help of a wartime colleague (Skarsgard), she set up a mission back to the Bridge on the River Kwai were Eric would confront his tormentor, Nagese (Sanada).

Paterson and Tepliztky's previous production, Burning Man, premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and was distributed by Transmission Films in Australia and New Zealand.

Andy Paterson last worked with Colin Firth on The Girl With A Pearl Earring. His previous films, including Hilary and Jackie, Restoration and Beyond the Sea have received multiple Oscar and BAFTA nominations.

Chris Brown is an award-winning producer whose credits include The Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa, Dancing Through the Dark, The Proposition and Daybreakers. Based in Australia, he owns production company Pictures in Paradise in Queensland. In 2004 Brown won Independent Producer of the Year from the Australian Producer's Association.

"We are overjoyed to be working with Jonathan, Andy and Chris again, and the accomplished creative team and cast they've brought together for what we know will be a remarkable film. The Railway Man is truly an international production, with a story that has roots in Australia plus a wealth of Australia talent in front and behind the camera. This will be a major film for 2013," said Transmission Film's Andrew Mackie.

3 comments:

  1. Awwwww, Jeremy Irvine (allow me to have my little teenage girl crush moment over here).

    Still, this sounds like an interesting project. Looking forward to it!

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    1. It does sound interesting. The cast is good, and its a strong pedigree of writer/director/producer. Burning Man, Jonathan Teplitzky's last film, was one of the best Australian films of last year. I'll see this.

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    2. Interesting story and bound to be good...just a shame the deplorable way the extras were treated in Thailand. The Australian team should be ashamed of themselves of what you did to us..but dont worry..khama will come your way

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