The Dark - Press Archive - Isle of Man Business News

 
Source: Isle of Man
14 May 2004

HORROR FILM ON STOCKS

A HORROR film starring Lord of the Rings heart-throb Sean Bean could
begin shooting in the Island in July, it's been claimed.
 
Film website ScreenDaily.com reported this week independent sales,
financing and production company Summit Entertainment has added
two new pictures to its Cannes Film Festival line-up, one of which is
The Dark, the latest horror film from Impact Pictures, through its
financing deal with Constantin Film.
 
The site claims Canadian director John Fawcett, behind cult horror Ginger
Snaps as well as episodes of US TV shows Xena: Warrior Princess,
Queer as Folk, La Femme Nikita and Taken, has been signed up and
filming is scheduled to go ahead in the Island in July.
 
ScreenDaily says The Dark will also star Coyote Ugly and ER actress Maria
Bello and is about 'a series of mysterious occurrences that befall a young
family living on the site of a Welsh abattoir and haunted by the ghost of a
child killed there'.
 
'It's definitely one that we are very closely looking at,' confirmed the Film
Commission's Hilary Dugdale. 'But I can't say any more at the moment.'

A delegation led by Trade and Industry Minister Alex Downie and chief
executive Chris Corlett has left for Cannes in a bid to attract more
movie-makers.
 
'A number of Isle of Man co-financed and co-produced films made last year
will be either selling or screening at this event, the biggest film festival in
the industry's calendar,' said Ms Dugdale.
 
'The team will be building on the success of recent business trips to the
United States on the back of The Libertine coup, where meetings were held
with all the major studios.
 
'Since February, when the UK Inland Revenue withdrew what was known as
Section 48 film funding, Isle of Man Film has been busy generating
relationships with high-profile production partners on both sides of the
Atlantic to ensure that the flow of high-calibre production continues.'
 
The Island 'rescued' The Libertine, which starred A-list Hollywood actor
Johnny Depp.
 
Mr Downie said: 'The positive exposure generated by the recent actions of
the film team has resulted in worldwide acclaim for the Isle of Man and the
Manx people. We expect to be extremely busy throughout our time in
Cannes, completing ongoing deals and generating new ones.
 
ITV drama Tom Brown's Schooldays is being filmed locally. Production will
stop for the TT.

Mr Downie continued: 'The Isle of Man presence at Cannes is now one of
the significant features of the film festival.
 
'Our profile has grown considerably, resulting in better-quality productions
and therefore, improved perception of the Island and its people.'
 
 
 

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