Quiver Distribution has acquired North American rights to Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, starring Haley Bennett, Lily Allen, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall and Elias Mubarek.
Quiver is scheduled to be released in theaters in the fall.
Based on Woolf’s earlier novels, the romantic comedy “Knight and Day” is set against the backdrop of early 20th century London and crumbling Edwardian patriarchal attitudes.
The film will be directed by Tina Gharavi, BAFTA nominee for I Am Nasrin, from a screenplay by Justin Waddell.
In the film, aspiring astronomer Katherine Hilbury (Bennett) is passionate about two things: the stars and Cambridge University. While her controlling father (Spall) tries to steer her away from her scientific pursuits and force her to marry William (Whitehall), an old family friend, the headstrong young woman braves the expectations imposed on her and joins the women’s suffrage movement, spearheaded by the inspiring and outspoken Mary (Allen).
“‘Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day’ is smart, funny, emotional, and beautifully acted. Haley Bennett gives an extraordinary performance, and Tina Galavi and Justin Waddell have created a fresh and entertaining film that audiences can truly relate to,” said Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman, co-presidents of Quiver Distribution.
“Everyone knows that Virginia Woolf was a very serious writer who inspired ‘The Hours’ and wrote ‘Mrs. Dalloway,'” Waddell said. Our stories ask the same questions about purpose, identity, and love, all with humor and clever wit. This is funny, Virginia Woolf and Quiver would know exactly how to find that audience. ”
For Bennett, her character Catherine is “a woman with big ambitions in a small space…This is an exciting, fresh story about fighting to be heard, to be educated, to love on your own terms – daring to defy the norm.” Catherine is “a kite in a storm, never defeated,” she said.
Top talent includes cinematographer Sebastian Edschmidt, editors Hansjörg Weisbrich and Ben Wilson, production designer David Hindle and costume designer Esther Waltz, with casting by Colin Jones and music by Simon Gough.
The film was produced by Waddell, Christopher Figg, Meg Thomson, Steven Julius, Julie Link, and Philipp Steffens, with co-producers Annegret Weidkamper-Kruk, Sebastian Leutner, and Mark Gabizon, and executive producers Egor Noskov, Margarete Baille, Lara Ta, Nadia Gorshkova, Elena Simone, Anke Cresper, and Enzo. Zerocki, Konstantin Korenchuk, Saskia Thomas, Ian Hutchinson, Richard Swift, Mark Grew, Gail Woodruff, Alison Gwynne.
The film is a British-German co-production by Asterisk Films, Piccadilly Pictures and GLISK (a Federation Studios company). A Stelican presentation in association with MYRA Entertainment, Tsavorite Films, North East Screen, Ciara Filmproduction, Elevation Films, and Star Mountain Pictures. Co-production partners are Gretchen Film, Senator Film Production and German Film Partners, with support from the NRW Film and Media Center, the Baden-Württemberg Film Institute, the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) and the German Federal Film Board (FFA), with development funding from the BFI (National Lottery Funding Award).
Quiver Distribution recently released “London Calling,” starring Josh Duhamel, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Rick Hoffman, and Aiden Gillen, directed by filmmaker Alan Unger (“The Bandit”), and “The Cleaner,” directed by Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”) and starring Daisy Ridley and Clive Owens. They recently announced the acquisitions of “A Prayer for the Dying” (Johnny Flynn, John C. Reilly) and “The Birthday Party” (Willem Dafoe), as well as “The Last Temptation of Becky” (Lulu Wilson, Neil Patrick Harris).
The deal was negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers by Larry Greenberg and TJ Smith on behalf of Quiver, WME Independent and WestEnd Films.
