Gateway Films and Ratio Film are delighted to announce principal photography on feature film The Messenger has commenced.
Shooting on location in the UK, The Messenger is written by Andrew Kirk and will be directed by double BAFTA and Emmy award-winning director David Blair (Best Laid Plans, Accused). The Messenger is produced by Terry Stone (for Gateway Films), Richard Turner and Richard Hart (for Ratio Film) and Michael Knowles. It is being executive produced by Omega Capital, Investor Profit Portfolio and The Wealth Advisory. Beverly Hills based Cinema Management Group, headed by veteran sales executive Edward Noeltner, will be handling worldwide sales outside of the UK.
The superb British cast includes: ROBERT SHEEHAN (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Misfits), JACK FOX (Dracula, Fresh Meat), LILY COLE (The Moth Diaries, Snow-white and the Huntsman) DAVID O’HARA (Reach Me, The Departed) and TAMZIN MERCHANT (Jane Eyre, The Tudors).
Director David Blair said: "I have been around the project for quite a time, and it certainly feels good right now that all that painstaking analysis and work on the screenplay is bearing fruit. I have been fortunate working, during that period, with producers who've provided me with a platform from which I believe the film can really flourish." He added wryly: "And no director would say that if they didn't mean it!"
Terry Stone adds: "The Sixth Sense was one of my favourite films and when I first read The Messenger I was reminded of that film. When a screenplay makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up you know you have to get it made.”
Synopsis:
To the outside world looking in, Jack's not well. He's been in and out of secure units all of his young life, had every drug they can throw at him, every treatment they can think of... but nothing can make the dead go away, they always find a way through. The Messenger is the story of Jack's last melt down: a story of frustration and guilt, love and betrayal, family and blame.
Unwillingly becoming embroiled in the unfinished business of Mark, a journalist brutally murdered in the local park and his television presenter wife, Sarah, to whom he's desperate to say one last goodbye, Jack finds himself getting closer to Sarah, obsessed with passing on Mark's message.
Discovering hidden secrets and lies finally pushes the fragile Jack over the edge but there is hope when his estranged sister, Emma, gets in touch. Jack starts to remember the past they shared together and as the memories come flooding back, he starts to confront the truth about the death of his father.
Producer Richard Turner said, “It’s been hard work getting to this the first day of principal photography, but thanks to our fantastic investors, our wonderfully creative director, David Blair, and a great production team and film crew, we’ve made it. We are all so excited to start putting Andrew Kirk’s sharp script on to the screen. We have been fortunate to attract a really good cast and we believe that the film will be a credit to the depth of talent that now exists in the area of our principal locations in the Peak District.”
