LETITIA WRIGHT SET TO STAR IN AGNIESZKA SMOCZYŃSKA’S “THE SILENT TWINS" - AmNews Curtain Raiser

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Friday, February 28, 2020

LETITIA WRIGHT SET TO STAR IN AGNIESZKA SMOCZYŃSKA’S “THE SILENT TWINS"

LETITIA WRIGHT 

LETITIA WRIGHT SET TO STAR IN AGNIESZKA SMOCZYŃSKA’S “THE SILENT TWINS

Emmy Award® nominated Letitia Wright (Black Panther, Avengers franchise, “Black Mirror”) and Tamara Lawrance (On Chesil Beach, BBC One’s “The Long Song”) have signed on to Agnieszka Smoczynska’s (The Lure, Fugue) English language debut The Silent Twins, written by Andrea Seigel (Laggies) and based on the book The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace.  Kindred Spirit’s Anita Gou (The Farewell), 42’s Ben Pugh and Joshua Horsfield, and Madant’s Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska (High Life) are producing the film. 

The film is being financed by Kindred Spirit and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute and Moderator Inwestycje.  30WEST arranged the financing and is co-representing the U.S. rights alongside ICM Partners and UTA Independent. Protagonist Pictures are representing international rights.  Executive Producers include Wright; Ewa Puszczyńska (Academy Award® winning Ida); 30WEST’s Katie Anderson, Jake Carter and Trevor Groth; Alicia Van Couvering; Andrea Seigel; Charlie Morrison and Marjorie Wallace.

The Silent Twins tells the chilling true story of twin sisters who were entirely silent, communicating only to each other in a private language. They became obsessed with writing fiction, boys, and crime in their teens. As their intense bond turned into something far more dangerous, how far would their obsessions take them?

Wright is best known for her role as Shuri in Disney’s Black PantherAvengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.  She was nominated for an Emmy Award® for her role in “Black Mirror,” was recently awarded with BAFTA’s EE Rising Star Award and appeared in Amazon Studios’ Guava Island alongside Donald Glover and Rihanna.  Wright will next be seen in 20th Century Studios’ Death on the Nile, directed by Kenneth Branagh alongside Emma Mackey, Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer. Additionally, she will star as the female lead in Steve McQueen's "Small Axe," one of the most eagerly anticipated dramas coming out of Britain, where it will air on the BBC and Amazon in the US.

Lawrance was named by The Guardian as one of their “talents set to take 2017 by storm” and selected as a Screen International “Screen Star of Tomorrow 2018.” Her most notable leading roles on television include Jess in Rupert Goold’s King Charles III for BBC2 and Miss July, in the Heyday Films three-part adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel, The Long Song, opposite Hayley Attwell. She can next be seen in the feature film leading the cast of Corvidae, alongside BAFTA Nominee Jack Lowden and the multi-awarded Fiona Shaw and in Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated BBC drama, Small Axe. Lawrance is esteemed for her work on stage, having been part of several award-winning plays at London’s National Theatre.  Including “Twelfth Night,” for which she won second place in the Ian Charleston awards 2018 and elsewhere as Cordelia opposite Ian McKellen in his most recent “King Lear.” 

Smoczynska won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for her Polish feature film debut The Lure (Córki dancingu) which was released in the U.S. by The Criterion Collection and as a result was named one of the Ten Female European Filmmakers to Watch by Variety and received the 2017 Sundance Institute Global Filmmaking Award.  Smoczynska has also worked extensively in television and The Lure is being developed as a series with Smoczynska attached as an Executive Producer and Director.  Her second feature, Fugue (Fuga), screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize.

Wright is represented by WME and Identity Agency Group.  Lawrance is repped by Gordon and French.  Smocyznska is repped by ICM Partners, Field Entertainment and High Spot Talent Agency.  Seigel is repped by Writ Large and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman L.L.P.

Kindred Spirit, founded by producer Anita Gou, curates high-quality content in film, television, and emerging media that showcases underrepresented voices and pushes the boundaries.  Aimed at a global audience, Kindred Spirit is behind one of the highest-grossing independent films of the year, The Farewell starring Awkwafina which has grossed over $23 million worldwide, received two Golden Globe® nominations including Best Foreign-Language Film and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature.  She also produced the critically acclaimed Honey Boy written by and starring Shia LaBeouf which Amazon Studios released late last year and recently partnered with Oscilloscope Laboratories to acquire the North American rights to We Are Little Zombies, which will be released this Spring.

Gou’s past works include Assassination Nation which NEON released (Sundance 2018), Terminal 3 (Tribeca 2018), Netflix’s To the Bone (Sundance 2017), and The Assassin (Cannes 2015).

42 is a management and production company, with offices in London and Los Angeles. Established in 2013, 42 is run by five partners: producers Rory Aitken and Ben Pugh and managers Kate Buckley, Cathy King, and Josh Varney. 42’s management division represents an eclectic range of high profile and emerging talent. The company’s client list includes actors, writers, directors, producers, casting directors and authors.

On the production side, 42 has a multi-year first-look development, financing, and production deal for feature films with Netflix. As part of this deal, the company is currently in production on Adam Randall’s NIGHT TEETH and also produced OUTSIDE THE WIRE starring Anthony Mackie in post-production.

The company also recently announced they will be producing O2, starring Noomi Rapace, with Wild Bunch International launching the project at EFM.

Upcoming theatrical feature films include MILITARY WIVES starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan, to be released in February; and Cold War thriller IRONBARK starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan, which world premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.


42’s TV projects include the Emmy award-winning WATERSHIP DOWN, for BBC and Netflix, the animated mini-series adapted from the global best-selling book and featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega, Sir Ben Kingsley, Daniel Kaluuya, Gemma Arterton and Olivia Colman; TRAITORS, a 6-part spy thriller for Channel 4 and Netflix, written by Bash Doran and starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma Appleton, Keeley Hawes and Luke Treadaway; and WILD BILL, a six-part drama series starring Rob Lowe for ITV. THE ENGLISH GAME, a six-part television series by Julian Fellowes, will launch on Netflix this year.

Madants is a Warsaw-based production company, behind such films as Claire Denis’ High Life (TIFF, San Sebastian FF, US distribution by A24), as well as Sigurdsson’s Under The Tree (Venice FF, TIFF), Babis Maridis’ Sundance-selected Pity or Emir Baigazin’s The River (Best Director winner at Venice Orizzonti) and Agnieszka Holland’s Charlatan (Berlinale 2020). 

Madants has a number of further international co-production projects in the pipeline, including Aleksandra Terpińska’s rap musical, Other People, a co-production with France’s Alcatraz Films with the co-operation of Warner Bros.


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