Searchlight Pictures and Sam Mendes work together on his next project when the company is on board Empire of Light, with Olivia Colman in negotiations to star. This is Mendes’ first film since his Oscar nomination 1917 and the first time he and Colman have worked together.
Realm of Light also plays Mendes again with film photographer Roger Deakins, who won an Oscar for his work on 1917
Mendes also wrote the screenplay for the love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s. Mendes and Pippa Harris will produce via Neal Street Productions. The project is overseen by Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum, Presidents of Production, Film and Television, and Katie Goodson-Thomas, Head of Development and Production, Searchlight Pictures UK.
Mendes took his time to choose his next film after that 1917, who not only earned a critical sweetheart with ten Oscar nominations, including one for himself, but was also a big hit at the box office. The World War I photo earned $ 384 million at the worldwide box office, including $ 159 million domestic.
After winning her first Oscar for Searchlight’s The favorite, Colman returns to the studio to continue with honors. She recently received several nominations for the latest season of The crown including a SOFT and also earned much praise for the performance in The father, including an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Mendes is repeated by CAA and the agency and Colman is repeated by ICM Partners and United Agents.
CAA Media Finance mediates transaction.