News from Germany: production is wrapping up on I, Anna. According to the website of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein GmbH on March 9 (rough translation provided by Google Translate):

European film stars are in the studio at Studio Hamburg–After filming in London, British actress Charlotte Rampling and her Irish colleague Gabriel Byrne are  in the Hanseatic city to work on scenes for  the international co-production I, Anna (German producer: Michael Eckelt, Riva Filmproduktion, Hamburg) until 12 March 2011. On Tuesday, the famous acting stars met on the set with Eva Hubert, Managing Director of FFHSH, which supports the project with 400,000 euros in production support.

Directed by Barnaby Southcombe, who is also responsible for the screenplay, I, Anna is a neo-noir thriller, the story of an investigating commissioner (Gabriel Byrne), in love with a mysterious and unapproachable Femme Fatale – played by Charlotte Rampling – who is in danger of losing himself in his investigation.

Upon completion of the shooting, parts of the post-production will be performed on the Elbe. The German release, distributed by NFP Marketing & Distribution, is planned for spring 2012.  Bavaria Film International is responsible for world sales.

Casting News

Empire Online [The link to this article is no longer available on the Internet] tells us that Hayley Atwell has joined the cast of I, Anna–and this is odd news because the film is already finished!

She’s part of the cast alongside leads Gabriel Byrne and Charlotte Rampling as a detective and a femme fatale caught up in a noir murder mystery. Atwell is playing Emmy, Rampling’s daughter.

Writer/director Barnaby Southcombe (who also happens to be Rampling’s son) wrote the script based on Elsa Lewin’s 1984 novel. He shot the film around London and Hamburg in the last few weeks and is now busy editing the results.

Here’s Ms. Atwell, who is also starring in the new Captain America movie:

More about this casting development from Variety:

Brit thesp Hayley Atwell has joined the cast of “I, Anna,” alongside Gabriel Byrne and Charlotte Rampling.

Atwell, whose credits include Woody Allen’s “Cassandra’s Dream,” “Brideshead Revisited” and the upcoming “Captain America: the First Avenger,” will play Emmy, the daughter of Rampling’s eponymous character Anna.

More detail from Moviefone [This link is no longer available on the Internet]:

Atwell’s worked with Rampling before on ‘The Duchess,’ and made a name for herself in Woody Allen’s ‘Cassandra’s Dream’ and Julian Jarrold’s ‘Brideshead Revisited.’ Variety’s casting update doesn’t report on the depth of Atwell’s role in the film, but we do know the movie’s currently in post-production which could be a red flag depending on the extent of her involvement.

[As we reported here over a year ago] Composer Rob Lord, who prepared a score for a scene in the film last year when Southcombe shopped his picture around the Berlin Film Festival, indicated on his blog that, “The project received more interest than any other film at the festival by quite a large margin.” Time will tell, but does Atwell’s involvement peak your curiosity further?

Well, perhaps a tad, but we are in it for the Byrne, don’t you know? Oh, and Charlotte, of course. Well, the entire thing is looking pretty amazing, so yes, our curiosity is piqued! wink

Thanks to Ramona for the link about filming in Hamburg and to Detective Logan for the Variety tip. We can’t wait to see this film! More news as it happens, so stay tuned!

4 Comments

  1. Thanks for the news. I have read the novel and I am really looking forward to see the movie. Charlotte and Gabriel is a great choice for leading actors in a movie like this. I am sure they will be great together. Hope the movie will come to Norway in 2012 too.

    The photo of Anna and Bernie above is great!

  2. Can’t wait till it comes out in theaters world wide , best of luck to Gabriel

  3. Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne together is all I need to get excited not to mention that noir is one of my favourite genre.

  4. …From Byron to Bernie, I am in agreement with the following quip from my most recent mind interest, Lord Byron: ‘I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting’ ;). In fact I just found out that Byron himself had been a fan of various theater productions in his youth; he had even starred in (and directed) 2 private shows, Richard Cumberland’s ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and Richard Allingham’s ‘Weathercock’. Of course I have never heard of either of these things until recently… but then again, before seeing ‘Gothic’ I had never heard of either Gabriel Byrne or Lord Byron, either. And now, look at me – I am so enamored of both of them! That Gabriel, what did he do to me head…
    ;)

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