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Cast Announced for Lassie 26 May 2005 Peter O'Toole and Samantha Morton have signed up to head the all-star cast for
Charles Sturridge's new Lassie movie, due to shoot on the Island next month.
Also helping revive the legendary franchise are Peter Dinklage (The Station
Agent), John Lynch, Jemma Redgrave, Steve Pembridge and Gregor Fisher. Excellent
sales of the film are being achieved at Cannes this week. Entertainment Film
Distributors will distribute Lassie in the UK, hopefully for Christmas 2005.
Worldwide sales agent Odyssey has also locked in deals in Taiwan, Turkey,
Benelux Eastern Europe, Portugal, France, Middle East, Thailand, Iceland, Israel
and Greece.
Lassie will be produced by Element Films' Ed Guiney and Firstight Films' Charles
Sturridge and Francesa Barra in conjunction with Classic Media. Charles Sturridge wrote the script, based on Eric
Knight’s classic 1938 novel Lassie Come Home. Sturridge is largely known for his
directorial work on Shackleton, Longitude and Brideshead Revisited.
Isle of Man Film Development Manager Hilary Dugdale said,
"The Lassie script fits some of the Island's most beautiful locations
perfectly. It's a marvellous opportunity for us to show off the Island’s natural
beauty. It's a pleasure to be working with such quality material and with such
an esteemed director and cast. I know the Island will rise to the challenge
admirably.
"It’s going to be another busy year for the Island’s film industry. As well as
Lassie, in July we will be filming the long awaited Stormbreaker, the first of a
series of children's (and an increasing number of adults) novels by best-selling
author Anthony Horowitz in which teenage spy Alex Rider will be battling evil
and protecting the country single-handedly for MI6. Casting for the film is
currently on-going but we can rest assured that it will be an exceptional and
high-calibre cast." More stories >>>
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