02/12/2002 - Eight-week shoot in Benelux for this costume drama about the real story behind one of Vermeer’s most celebrated and mysterious paintings

Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’ Diary), Scarlett Johansson (The Man Who Wasn’t There) and Tom Wilkinson (In The Bedroom) are currently on Luxembourg set of Girl with a Pearl Earring, based on Tracy Chevalier’s eponymous best-selling novel. The period drama is TV director Peter Webber’s feature film debut, and tells the mysterious story behind one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s greatest works of art. The girl in question is a seventeen-year-old whom family tragedy forces into service as a maid to the Vermeer family. As the young servant-girl’s familiarity with the paterfamilias and painter, Johannes, grows, she becomes the object of envy and scandal jealousy.
The creative credits include cinematographer Eduardo Serra, production designer Ben van Os and Oscar-winning hair and make-up artist, Jenny Shircore (Elizabeth). Filming is scheduled to last eight weeks with subsequent stopovers in Belgium and Holland.
Girl with a Pearl Earring is co-produced by Andy Paterson and Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie) for Archer Street on behalf of Inside Track, and Jimmy De Braband for his Luxembourg-based Delux Studios.
French group Pathe which co-financed the project with support from the British Film Council, will release Girl With a Pearl Earring in the UK, France, Benelux and Switzerland. Lion’s Gate has picked up rights for North America and Pathe International is handling sales throughout the rest of the world.

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