Berlin

Josh O’Connor, the BAFTA-nominated and BIFA-winning breakout star of award-winning drama God’s Own Country, will join screen legends Annette Bening (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, The Kids Are All Right, American Beauty) and Bill Nighy (Their Finest, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Love Actually) in Academy Award-nominated writer-director William Nicholson’s (writer of Breathe, Everest, Gladiator, Shadowlands, Les Misérables) bittersweet family drama Hope Gap.

Currently in pre-production, this nuanced and tender take on familial disbandment is produced by BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning producer David M. Thompson of Origin Pictures (Woman in Gold, Revolutionary Road). Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales, with North American sales co-repped by CAA and Protagonist. Principal photography is set to begin Summer 2018.

O’Connor will play the role of Jamie, the son of Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy), who have been married for twenty-nine years. When he comes home to visit them in the fading seaside town where he grew up, Edward tells him that he plans to leave Grace. The next day. Hope Gap tracks the unravelling of three lives, through stages of shock, disbelief and anger, to a resolution, of sorts. It’s tender, it’s funny and, above all, true. There are no easy answers, no simple paths to redemption, but in the end, it is a story of survival. A story of hope. 

O’Connor said, “I’m thrilled to be working on Hope Gap, Bill has a clear vision and perfectly pitched screenplay. Working alongside Bill and Annette is a dream come true and I’m excited to get started.”

Nicholson stated, “I loved Josh O’Connor when I saw him in God’s Own Country, and when I met him I loved him even more. He’s blessed with a face you can’t help watching. And of course, most important for me, I know he has the talent and the humanity to deliver the powerful emotions that charge Hope Gap.”

Thompson commented, “Josh is one of the most exciting young British talents I have ever come across. He made an extraordinary and striking debut and it is no surprise he’s received so much attention and acclaim. We’re thrilled to have in on board Hope Gap and we are sure he will deliver something really special.”

British actor Josh O’Connor trained with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has garnered critical acclaim for his roles across film, television and theatre, being nominated for the EE BAFTA Rising Star Award this year, having previously been named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2016 and in 2017 a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit. Josh made his big-screen debut in Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club and roles soon followed working with Stephen Frears both in The Program and Florence Foster Jenkins, the latter alongside Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. After starring in Peaky Blinders and Ripper Street in 2014, last year he reprised his role as Lawrence “Larry” Durrell for the second season of ITV’s hugely successful The Durrells, with a third season due to broadcast this spring. Josh can currently be seen as the lead in God’s Own Country, a bold love story heralded as “Britain’s Brokeback Mountain” that has become the most successful British debut feature of 2018 and for which he was awarded Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards. He recently finished filming his next feature film Only You alongside Laia Costa which will be released theatrically this year and shortly commences production on the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables, playing the role of Marius.

Four-time Academy Award nominee and two-time Golden Globe-winning actress Annette Bening first rose to prominence in Stephen Frears’ 1990 The Grifters, crime thriller opposite Anjelica Huston and John Cusack, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Subsequent roles in American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right also garnered Academy Award nominations. She won two Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for her roles in Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right. Bening most recently took a starring turn in 20th Century Women, released by A24.

Nighy is best-known to international audiences for his memorable performances in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and as washed-up pop singer Billy Mack in Love Actually which won him a BAFTA for best supporting actor. In 2005 he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television for his role in Gideon’s Daughter. He has also made appearances in major franchises including the Underworld series, Pirates of the Caribbean series, and the Harry Potter franchise. Recent credits include Their Finest, The Limehouse Golem, Jack the Giant Slayer and About Time.

Writer-director William Nicholson was nominated for Academy Awards for writing the modern acclaimed classics Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, and Shadowlands, directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger and Julian Fellowes. His latest offering, Breathe, starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy and Hugh Bonneville, was a runaway hit at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival following rave reviews and was released in the US October 13^th, 2017 by Bleecker Street Media. Nicholson’s impressive roster of credits also includes Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie, Everest, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

O’Connor is repped by CAA.

In addition to Hope Gap, Protagonist Pictures has a robust slate of prestigious titles on offer at the European Film Market including the newly announced Sundance winner The Kindergarten Teacher starring Maggie Gyllenhaal that will screen at the EFM. Other titles making their screening debuts include the Scott Free and Vice black metal phenomenon Lords of Chaos, Jim Hosking’s An Evening with Beverly Luff Lynn and the Cillian Murphy starrer The Delinquent Season. The Berlin slate is rounded out by the Toronto International Film Festival selections Dark River and Beast.

ABOUT PROTAGONIST PICTURES

Protagonist Pictures is an international finance, production and sales company which has a proven track record in outstanding films and commercial successes. Based in the UK, the company handles films from around the world, always maintaining a strong focus on filmmakers with exceptional vision and storytelling skills.

Protagonist’s current successes on release around the world include The Florida Project from Sean Baker distributed in the US by A24, William Oldroyd’s BAFTA nominated Lady Macbeth, Francis Lee’s BAFTA nominated God’s Own Country, and the 2017 Un Certain Regard Grand Jury Prize winner April’s Daughter from writer/director/producer Michel Franco. Other titles include the 2017 Directors’ Fortnight Art Cinema Award Winner The Rider from Chloé Zhao to be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, Toronto International Film Festival 2017 Official Selections Beast, from writer/director Michael Pearce and Clio Barnard’s Dark River starring Ruth Wilson, as well as Richard Loncraine’s Finding Your Feet to be released in the US by 30WEST/Roadside Attractions.

Currently in post-production are Vita & Virginia starring Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki, Kristoffer Nyholm’s Keepers, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, which will be distributed in the US by Amazon Studios, The Souvenir from Executive Producer Martin Scorsese directed by Joanna Hogg, zombie comedy Little Monsters starring Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad, and Juan Cabral’s Two/One starring Boyd Holbrook and Beau Bridges.

In pre-production are Paramour, directed by Alexandra-Therese Keining and starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Gypsy Boy starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Off Season starring Jon Hamm from the producers of Baby Driver and The Shape of Water and Hope Gap starring Annette Bening and Bill Nighy.