A $12m drama about the Brontë sisters

The Independent publishes an article about the 70th anniversary of Pinewood Studios. One of the film companies operating from Pinewood is AMC Pictures, the company behind the upcoming Brontë biopic:

Meanwhile, Pinewood is a mini-village in which an array of more than 280 businesses are based. Among these is AMC Pictures, the outfit run by the producer Alastair Maclean-Clark. A former clapper loader who first came to Pinewood as a teenage to work on The Curse of the Pink Panther, Superman and Octopussy, Maclean-Clark waxes enthusiastic about the attractions of being based at the studio. "It has a reputation around the world, it is convenient and flexible. It is Britain's foremost studio," he says.

When he is struggling to finance one of his own movies, Maclean-Clark can always walk out into the sound stages and watch the shooting of the latest US blockbuster. "I always say that if you're having a bad day trying to get a movie financed, it can lift your spirits to go around and see another movie being made. It's a tough business getting movies produced and financed, but that is a good way to remind yourself what you're doing it for. "

Nonetheless, Maclean-Clark has a cautionary tale that may alarm the Pinewood bosses. He is currently producing Brontë, a $12m drama about the Brontë sisters starring Michelle Williams, Bryce Dallas Howard and Evan Rachel Wood. The movie, to be directed by Charles Sturridge, will shoot on location in Yorkshire. Ideally, Maclean-Clark would like to do the studio work at Pinewood but, he says, if they go to Hungary instead it will cost one-third of the price. Local producers are finding Pinewood more and more expensive. (Geoffrey MacNab)

Another Brontë-related project is Mammoth Screen's take on Wuthering Heights. Several months ago we already presented the project and today we read in World Screen basically the same that we already knew:

ITV1 has also commissioned Mammoth Screen to make a new 3x1 hour version of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Peter Bowker (Blackpool) is the screenwriter.

The serial will be distributed by Granada International.

Categories: In the News, Movies-DVD-TV,Wuthering Heights