Quiver Distribution has acquired North American rights to “Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day,” which stars Haley Bennett, Lily Allen, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall and Elyas M’Barek.
Quiver is planning a theatrical release in the fall.
Based on Woolf’s early novel, romantic comedy “Night & Day” is set against the backdrop of early 20th century London and crumbling Edwardian patriarchal attitudes.
The film is directed by Tina Gharavi, BAFTA-nominated for “I Am Nasrine,” based on a screenplay by Justine Waddell.
In the film, aspiring astronomer Katharine Hilbery (Bennett) is passionate about two things: the stars and Cambridge University. While her controlling father (Spall) tries to push her away from her scientific pursuits and into marriage with old family friend William (Whitehall), the headstrong young woman stands up to expectations forced on her by getting involved in the Suffragette movement, spearheaded by the inspirational, straight-talking Mary (Allen).
“ ‘Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day’ is smart, funny, emotional and beautifully performed. Haley Bennett delivers an exceptional performance, and Tina Gharavi and Justine Waddell have crafted a fresh, entertaining film that audiences will truly connect with,” said Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman, co-presidents of Quiver Distribution.
Waddell said, “We all know Virginia Woolf as the tremendously serious author who inspired ‘The Hours’ and wrote ‘Mrs Dalloway.’ Our story is asking those same questions about purpose, identity and love, but with humor and sly wit. This is funny Virginia Woolf and Quiver will know exactly how to find its audience.”
For Bennett, her character Katharine is “a woman with huge ambition in a small space… this is an exciting and fresh story about fighting to be heard, to be educated, and to love on your own terms — about daring to go against the grain.” Katharine, she said, is “a kite in the storm — never defeated.”
Below-the-line talent includes cinematographer Sebastian Edschmid, editors Hansjörg Weißbrich and Ben Wilson, production designer David Hindle and costume designer Esther Walz, with casting by Colin Jones and music by Simon Goff.
The film was produced by Waddell, Christopher Figg, Meg Thomson, Stephen Julius, Julie Link and Philipp Steffens, with co-producers Annegret Weitkämper-Krug, Sebastian Leutner and Marc Gabizon, and executive producers Egor Noskov, Margarethe Baillou, Lara Ta, Nadya Gorshkova, Elena Simone, Anke Klesper, Enzo Zelocchi, Konstantin Korenchuk, Saskia Thomas, Ian Hutchinson, Richard Swift, Marc Grewe, Gayle Woodruffe and Alison Gwynn.
The film is a U.K.-German co-production, between Asterisk Films, Piccadilly Pictures, and GLISK (a Federation Studios company). A Stellican Presentation, in association with M.Y.R.A. Entertainment, Tsavorite Films, North East Screen, Ciara Filmproduction, Elevation Films, Star Mountain Pictures. Co-production partners are Gretchenfilm, Senator Film Produktion and German Film Partners with support from Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg, the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), and the German Federal Film Board (FFA), and development financing from the BFI (awarding National Lottery Funding).
Quiver Distribution recently released “London Calling” from filmmaker Allan Ungar (“Bandit”) and starring Josh Duhamel, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Rick Hoffman and Aiden Gillen, as well as “Cleaner,” from Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”), and starring Daisy Ridley and Clive Owens. They recently announced the acquisition 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 by Larry Greenberg and TJ Smith on behalf of Quiver and WME Independent and WestEnd Films on behalf of the filmmakers.
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