London
(September 17th 2007) – Working Title Films and Universal
Pictures announce that principal photography has commenced on Hippie Hippie
Shake. Directed by Beeban Kidron, the screenplay is adapted by Lee Hall
and Bill Nicholson from Richard Neville’s book “Hippie Hippie
Shake: The Dreams, The Trips, The Love-Ins, The Screw-Ups: The Sixties.”
The cast will be led by Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins), Sienna Miller
(Alfie), Emma Booth (Clubland) and Max Minghella (Art School Confidential).
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Nicky Kentish Barnes are the producers.
Hippie Hippie Shake will take the audience on a psychedelic
journey through London in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Murphy
plays Richard Neville, the editor of the notorious satirical magazine
Oz, and Miller plays his girlfriend, Louise. In an era of free love and
flower power, the film follows their love story as Neville and his friends
launch the magazine and find themselves fighting for both the magazine’s
survival and for the freedom of their generation.
Kidron first drew critical acclaim with her 1990 BAFTA Award-winning television
drama for the BBC, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, based on the Jeanette
Winterson novel. Her film credits include the highly successful Bridget
Jones: The Edge of Reason, Murder, Swept from the Sea, To Wong Foo, Hookers
Hustlers Pimps and Their Johns, Used People, Antonia and Jane and Vroom.
Most recently, she directed a documentary investigating the life and work
of sculptor Antony Gormley.
Joining Kidron to create her vision is director of photography Michael
Seresin (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), production designer
John Paul Kelly (Enduring Love), Academy Award®-winning makeup artist
Christine Blundell (Topsy-Turvy), costume designer Verity Hawkes (Snatch)
and editor Andrew Hulme (Lucky Number Slevin).
Working Title Films has been co-chaired by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
since 1992. Between them, the pair has produced more than 85 feature films,
which have amassed more than $4 billion worldwide. The company’s
commercial and critical hits include The Interpreter; About a Boy; Notting
Hill; Elizabeth; Fargo; Dead Man Walking; Bean; High Fidelity; Johnny
English; Billy Elliot; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Bridget Jones’s
Diary; Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; O Brother, Where Art Thou?;
Love Actually; Shaun of the Dead; Pride & Prejudice; Nanny McPhee;
United 93; Mr Bean's Holiday; Hot Fuzz; and the recently released Atonement.
The company has also stepped into theatre production with the hugely popular
Billy Elliot The Musical.
Universal Pictures is a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com).
Universal Studios is part of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading
media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing
of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. Formed in
May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment,
NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment
networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production
operations, a leading television stations group and world-renowned theme
parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled
by Vivendi Universal. |