05/09/2008

The 52nd Times BFI London Film Festival (October 15-30) will open with the world premiere of Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, an adaptation of his own stage play by BAFTA-winning scriptwriter Peter Morgan.

Michael Sheen and Frank Langella will reprise their stage roles as British journalist David Frost and disgraced American President Richard Nixon respectively.

The Festival’s Artistic Director Sandra Hebron said, “We’re delighted to be opening our festival with this fascinating study of a unique moment in cultural and political life. Engrossing and entertaining by turns, and brilliantly performed, it is a film with strong London links and a perfect opener for this year’s festival.”

The festival will close with Danny Boyle’s India-set Slumdog Millionaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danny Boyle
film profile] about an 18-year old Mumbai slum dweller who is on the verge of winning a fortune of India’s version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

The film was adapted for the screen from Vikas Swarup’s bestseller Q&A by Academy Award winning writer Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty). Pathé Distribution will release the Film4 funded film in the UK in early 2009 while Pathé International is handling international sales.

Hebron said, “We’re thrilled to be closing our Festival with this latest film from one of the UK’s most talented and versatile directors. Pulling together a wealth of talent from two continents to tell this moving and truly contemporary tale, Slumdog Millionaire will bring this year’s Festival to a vibrant and cheering close.

Boyle said, “I am delighted that the film will receive its European premiere at the London Film Festival. I hope that Londoners will respond to this story about another great megatropolis - Mumbai, “the Maximum City”.’