09/04/2003

International film financiers Grosvenor Park, announced yesterday that they have completed the financing for Istvan Szabo’s Being Julia, Marc Evans’ Trauma and Richard Jobson’s The Purifiers for their new tax equity production partnership, First Choice Films.
Launched last January, the UK-based First Choice Films will provide around 30 per cent of private financing for the three projects developed with different partners.
"This is an exciting new project providing equity to assorted films," said Grosvenor Park’s chairman Donald Starr. “Each film has unique international selling points and, in particular, a quality and calibre of talent which we believe will be attractive to distributors and audiences around the world."
Being Julia, starring Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons, is a UK/Candian/Hungarian co-production that will see director Istvan Szabo team up once again with Canadian producer Robert Lantos: they worked together on Sunshine. Described as a Dangerous Liaison set in the London’s glittering Theatreland, the new project was written by Ronald Harwood, (winner of an Academy Award for his screenplay for Polanski’s The Pianist [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and is scheduled to go into production on 16 June.
Trauma, by the acclaimed director of My Little Eye, Marc Evans, stars Colin Firth and Mena Suvari. The psychological thriller is produced by Nicky Kentish Barnes (About A Boy [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Jonathan Cavendish (Croupier) for Ministry of Fear, the new genre label set up by their UK/Irish production outfit, Little Bird. Co-financed by BBC Films, Warner Bros and the Isle of Man Film Commission, Trauma will start shooting on 30 April.
The third project, The Purifiers, starring Kevin McKidd (Hideous Kinky), is produced by Richard Jobson and Chris Atkins (Vestry Films) with co-financing from Bill Kenwright Films, Scottish Screen and Park Entertainment. Principal photography is set to begin on 5 May. Park Entertainment will handle international sales on The Purifiers and the US company, Myriad Pictures, will be in charge of Being Julia and Trauma.
Previous feature films backed by Grosvenor Park include Spider [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Gosford Park.