Production is underway in Newcastle for the new film which is based on the acclaimed author’s novel.
It has been confirmed that production has begun on Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day, which has been adapted for the screen by Justine Waddell (Janine Jensen Falling for Stradivari, Force of Nature Natalia) and directed by BAFTA nominee Tina Gharavi (I Am Nasrine, Queen Cleopatra).
The news comes as it has been confirmed that Jack Whitehall (Jungle Cruise, Decline & Fall, Good Omens), Jennifer Saunders (Death on the Nile, Sumotherhood, Allelujia), and Sally Phillips (Love at First Sight, Bridget Jones Diary) have joined the ensemble cast. Other cast members include Misia Butler (Kaos), Alex Macqueen (Downton Abbey), Simon Phillips (The Witcher) and Frances Barber (Goal!).
They join the previously announced Haley Bennett (Widow Cliquot, Cyrano, Girl on a Train) who will play the lead, Timothy Spall (The Sixth Commandment, The King’s Speech, Harry Potter franchise), British singer Lily Allen (How to Build a Girl) and German superstar Elyas M’Barek (Fack ju Göhte, This Crazy Heart, The Collini Case).
Set in an era when glass ceilings were made of concrete, Bennett will play Katharine Hilbery — one woman who insisted on reaching for the stars. Based on what has been called Woolf’s funniest novel, Night and Day is described as an “unromantic comedy” about a passionate astronomer who does everything she can to avoid romantic love and marriage. Contemporary in tone, the story of Katharine’s bold challenge to the Edwardian patriarchy is set against the backdrop of the suffragette movement and advances in science and technology, at the turn of the 20th century.
The film is being produced by Justine Waddell (Janine Jensen Falling for Stradivari, Force of Nature Natalia), Christopher Figg (Golda, Silk Road, Mandy), Meg Thomson (Freud’s Last Session, Siren, Dot The I), Stephen Julius, Philipp Steffens (God You’re Such A Prick, Racing Hearts), Julie Link (Misfit) and Marc Grewe (The Queen’s Gambit, Babylon Berlin). Annegret Weitkämper–Krug, Egor Noskov, Margarethe Baillou, Lara Ta, Nadya Gorshkova and Konstantin Korenchuk will Executive Produce. Sebastian Leutner will Co-Produce.
The film’s release date has yet to be announced.