28/09/2016 - The heavyweight cast includes Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson and Emily Watson

Acclaimed British actor Rupert Everett has commenced shooting from his own script his long-in-development directorial debut, The Happy Prince [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], at Bavarian locations in Germany, and the production will also move to Belgium, Italy and France. The film is a biopic about the dying moments of well-known British writer Oscar Wilde and his reminiscences of days past. Everett plays Wilde, and the stellar cast includes well-known names like Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson and Beatrice Dalle.

Everett’s plaudits include Best Actor at Fantasporto for Dellamorte Dellamore (1994); British Supporting Actor of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, Best Supporting Actor at the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards and BAFTA and Golden Globe supporting actor nominations for My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997); and An Ideal Husband (1999), for which he won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor at the Seattle International Film Festival and scored a Best Actor nomination at the Golden Globes. 

Maze Pictures (Germany) is producing alongside Entre Chien et Loup (Belgium) with Palomar (Italy) as co-producer. The companies are producing in association with UK outfits BBC Films, Lionsgate UK, Raindog Films and Daryl Prince Productions, German companies Concorde Filmverleih, Zielke GmbH, Cine Plus Filmproduktion and Tele München Group, and Belgian outfits RTBF, Proximus and Strat et Go International. 

Funding is from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (Germany), the German Federal Film Fund, German Federal Film Board, Eurimages, the Belgian Federal Government’s Tax Shelter, Wallimage (Belgium), Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Belgium) and the Italian Tax Credit.

Beta Cinema is handling international sales.