Please Note: Productions included here have either moved into production with another actor or are so old that their resurrection seems unlikely. Formal announcements that a project has been scrapped are unusual.
10/13/00 (Daily Mail by Baz Bamigboye)
James Frain...will star in the TV dramatisation of William Boyd's novel Armadillo.
2/11/00 (Daily Mail by Baz Bambigboye)
Colin Firth has signed up to work with the woman who helped make him a heart-throb. The actor...will collaborate with its award winning producer Sue Birtwistle, on as new TV drama...[playing] author William Boyd's modern-day literary hero, Lorimer Black, an insurance adjuster from his novel Armadillo....Colin agreed to do this at a very early stage and it's perfect for him, Ms Birtwistle told me.
1/07/13: Daily Mail (by Baz Bamigboye)
Watch out for...Colin Firth, who is in final negotiations to star with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel and Celia Imrie in the sequel to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel...Ol Parker is writing the screenplay for the follow-up, and the hope is that Madden will be able to shoot in India later in the year, if cast members are ready for their next adventure.
12/18/12: Collider.com (by Christina Radish)
In
an interview, writer Ol Parker said that, while no deals
had been done, he has started work on the script. When asked about the
addition
of Colin and Helen Mirren to the cast, he replied, “I don’t know how
that got
out. Yes and no. There’s no script. They’re both friends of John’s
[Madden] and
they’ve both worked with John before, but there’s no script, so it’s
wildly
premature to talk about other people.” However, “I will now be writing
for
Colin Firth and Helen Mirren. I wrote this film with Judi and Maggie in
mind,
very consciously. It was a very deliberate thing. I tried to write
roles that
would snare them. I do that, in general, even if you know you’re never
going to
get them. It helps me personalize or give voice to a character.”
"...a sequel is in the works. My sources say that both Helen Mirren and Colin Firth are likely additions to the cast. Also, they say that director John Madden and writer Ol Parker are looking for an American actress possibly to round out the cast....the “Best Marigold” sequel will continue the adventures of Dench et al in India. There was discussion of taking the group somewhere else. But in the end it was decided they would stay in India afrer all."
Rachel Weisz, Ian McKellen and Susan Sarandon have joined Colin Firth in "The Colossus," a colonial drama set in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century, to be directed by Sean Mathias. The project, being sold worldwide by the Little Film Co., is expected to shoot this fall.
Based on Ann Harries' novel "Manly Pursuits," $15 million pic was written by Mathias and Myer Taub, and produced by Lisa Katselas.
"The Colossus" is a fictionalized version of real events. It's the story of ornithologist Francis Wills (Firth), who is hired to transport English songbirds to recently deposed South African prime minister Cecil Rhodes (McKellen). Wills falls in love with a firebrand political activist (Weisz) and becomes entangled in a plot to stop the imminent Boer War.
Minerva has pre-bought Italian rights to "The Colossus."
Ian McKellan's Cannes blog for 5/16/06 - Project is in the early stages of development
"It starts well enough with a full hot breakfast. I am travelling with my old friend Sean Mathias, who will be raising funds for his next film “Colossus” in which I am slated to play Cecil Rhodes, the 19th century adventurer who opened up southern Africa to European interests."
Shooting is targeted for April 2008.
2/14/05 Screendaily: Marc Evans announced as new director (to replace Bruce Beresford), though he is expected to direct another film before The Dead Wait.
11/02/04: Continued attempts to finance this project, with Bruce Beresford directing and starring Colin and James McAvoy (Wimbledon, Bright Young Things, State of Play)
5/13/04: Project marketed at Cannes film market for potential sales/backers. Names attached: director Bruce Beresford and co-stars Firth and James McAvoy.
5/19/03: New film announced at Cannes film market. with Colin Firth to star and to be directed by Jens Meurer (no longer involved).
Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter Natasha Richardson are set to play the same character at different ages in a new movie.
The film Dora will tell the story of feminist Dora Black, who was a founding member of the National Council of Civil Liberties in 1934. Richardson will play Black in flashback scenes showing her in her younger days. After World War Two, Black actively supported CND with her husband Bertrand Russell. Colin Firth is being tipped to play Russell in the Warner Brothers film, which is due to go into production next summer.
Shooting starts next week in Italy on The Face of an Angel, a fictionalised adaption of Barbie Latza Nadeau's book. It stars Kate Beckinsale, Daniel Bruhl and Cara Delevingne.
10/01/10: The Guardian (by Tom Kington)
Plans in the pipeline for a film directed by Michael Winterbottom inspired by the murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Italy. Colin Firth has been lined up to take the role of a journalist covering the murder in Italy in 2007.
Italian distributor Istituto Luce is currently lining up a Euros 20m noir-thriller entitled La Fenice. The film, which will be entirely set in Venice, is expected to star Colin Firth and Peter O’Toole, and will start shooting in January 2006. It is being planned as a UK-Italian-French co-production'
3/21/05: Production company announced that Hugh Jackman would be playing the lead role of John Halder, along with Jason Isaacs and Romola Garai to be directed by Lone Scherfig.
The Hollywood Reporter (2/16/05 by Stuart Kemp and Scott Roxborough)
Studio Hamburg...is co-producing the Colin Firth starrer "Good" by Danish helmer Lone Scherfig ("Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself"), which will shoot entirely in Berlin this year.
7/30/04 (Screendaily by Mike Goodridge)
Tailor-Made's burgeoning film slate...a film of CP Taylor's hit stage play Good is scheduled to start shooting in early 2005 with Colin Firth and Jason Isaacs in the lead roles, Pete Travis directing and Kevin Loader producing for Tailor-Made.
At the Mumbai Film Festival, Hudson was interviewed. He told DNAindia: “I have been doing a lot of things. But finance is a lot of problem.” His film based on Homage to Catalania [sic] also didn’t work out, despite boasting a star cast of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Hudson stated that “the cast was too old for the producers. That’s why it didn’t work out.”
5/19/09: Variety (by Pamela McClintock and John Hopewell)
Arclight Films is repping this film at the Cannes market. Hugh Hudson will direct the adaptation of George Orwell's book, with Colin Firth and Kevin Spacey attached to star.
Orwell's book revolves around the real-life story of how he and his wife Eileen traveled to Barcelona to fight Stalinism. There, Orwell joined the Anarchist brigade and fought in the Spanish Civil War. Film will highlight the relationship between Orwell (Colin) and Georges Kopp (Spacey), the charismatic Belgian commander of the brigade.
Filming is scheduled for the first half of 2010 in England, Spain and then Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Uruguay.
Order book from amazon us or amazon uk.
Order book from amazon us or amazon uk or a German language edition available at amazon uk
8/07/07: Attached to star in Michael Lesslie's adaptation of Brian Moore’s Booker-prize nominated novel. They hope to start filming in late 2007.
Synopsis: Michael Dillon's literary aspirations vanished when he became the manager of a small hotel; he thinks of himself as "a failed poet in a business suit." Married to a shrewish, dependent woman, he has just decided to leave her and move to London with his lover, a young Canadian woman, when he is swept into Northern Ireland's daily violence. A group of IRA thugs invades his home and holds his wife hostage while Michael is directed to plant a bomb that will kill a Protestant minister. Seamlessly turning what begins as a drama of domestic unhappiness into a chilling thriller, Moore engages Michael in a moral dilemma: whether to risk his wife's safety but save countless other lives by informing the police of the bomb ticking in his car. Once made, Michael's decision leads to yet more excruciating choices, escalating the tension in a narrative that mirrors the conflict which neither camp can win. As he depicts the passions on both sides of the civil war, Moore excoriates both "Protestant prejudice and Catholic cant," deploring the ceaseless conflict in "this British Province founded on inequality and sectarian hate." If the novel seems, in retrospect, perhaps a little contrived, readers will remain riveted as it hurtles to an inevitable, cleverly plotted conclusion.
Colin Firth and Catherine McCormack are being lined-up to play lovers in the new £6 million period drama The Maid of Buttermere. Bille August has been pencilled in to direct the film, which is set in the Lake District.
The story is based on Melvyn Bragg's adaptation of Raymond Khoury's novel. It focuses on a charismatic rogue who plots to seduce a wealthy debutante (Thora Birch). He instead falls for the local village beauty and has to convince her that his feelings are sincere.
The film is due to go into production later this year.
An insider told Ananova: "Getting Colin together with Catherine is something of a dream ticket. Because this is a prestige production, there is also no question of high fees being demanded or offered."
Tim Robbins will direct and star in this production, which is now being produced by EMJAG Productions and UTA Independent Film Group. As of May 28, 2013, the project was still in preproduction.
04/11: New York Times listing from Scott Rudin Productions
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Members of a drab, unhappy family in suburban
Indie banner Green Knight Ventures will produce a contemporary adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic story "The Fall of the House of Usher"...Green Knight is behind Colin Firth crime thriller "The Meat Trade." The Little Film Co. is repping sales of the project in the Cannes market.
11/10/08: The Scotsman (Tim Cornwell)
Don't look for this movie to be made anytime in the near future, as Robert Carlyle stated it has no financing.
"One casualty was The Meat Trade, the Scottish follow-up to Trainspotting, which has him and Colin Firth on board as stars, but is 'dragging its heels', he said....Carlyle said he was struggling to understand what was holding up The Meat Trade, but he added: 'It's an all-round problem. There's no money anywhere to make anything. It's stupid at the moment to complain about it because everybody is in the s*** in various different ways.' "
4/03/08: Daily Star (Amy Watts and Charlie Morgan
If "JOHNNY Borrell will be brutally murdered next week so his organs can be sold on the global transport market," then The Meat Trade must begin shooting imminently.
Also, "Samantha Morton...takes on the role of Mr B’s prostitute girlfriend."
10/31/07: Billboard (by Gary Graff)
[Johnny] Borrell [of the British band Razorlight]...is preparing to make his film debut in "The Meat Trade," a British drama starring Colin Firth and Robert Carlyle. "I play the boyfriend of the leading lady, who I'm not sure they've actually cast or not," Borrell says. "We're filming around Christmas time, or just after. I expect it will be quite fun."
8/20/07: Empire (by Alan Morrison)
During a Q&A at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Irvine Welsh mentioned a couple of other films on his future slate, according to Empire magazine. "First up is The Meat Trade, an original screenplay about a modern-day Burke and Hare duo in Edinburgh who murder people in order to illegally sell their organs. Robert Carlyle and Colin Firth are attached, with Antonia Bird directing."
5/09/07: indielondon.co.uk interview
Robert Carlisle: It’s going into production in the autumn. He’s had it for a couple of years. Are you familiar with Burke and Hare? The two immigrants in the 1860s in Edinburgh who were infamous for body snatching? They started off with people who’d been hung and they’d take the bodies to Edinburgh University for dissection. But they got sloppier and sloppier and eventually what they were doing was digging up bodies of people that had been buried and eventually killed people themselves. I think they killed 32 or 33 people. This is a modern day take on that. The element that’s interesting is about kidney transplants. Colin Firth will play the head of an organ clinic in Edinburgh. My guy is the Burke and Hare guy. [meaning that Colin is not playing one of the bodysnatchers, but only a supporting role.]
5/05/07: The Northern Echo
"The film, also starring Colin Firth as the head of an organ clinic in Edinburgh, is scheduled to go into production in the autumn."
5/12/05: Variety (Adam Dawtrey)
Robert Carlyle and Colin Firth will star in Antonia Bird's "The Meat Trade," with an original screenplay by "Trainspotting" novelist Irvine Welsh. The Works is handling international sales on the gothic horror comedy, which is in pre-production.
Set in Edinburgh, it's a contemporary reworking of the crimes of the 19th century bodysnatchers Burke and Hare. This notorious duo made a living robbing graves to provide doctors with cadavers for experimentation. When the supply of corpses dried up, they started killing tramps.
"The Meat Trade" is produced by David Aukin and Mark Cousins for 4Way Pictures, the prodco of Bird, Carlyle, Cousins and Welsh.
Additional details: Scottish Screen provided £25,000 in development money. Project first surfaced at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
4/23/07 (Variety by Adam Dawtry and Dave McNary)
Gabor Csupo has lined up a pair of live-action family fantasies as his next directing projects..."The Moon Princess," likely to shoot this summer as a U.K.-Hungarian co-production, is based on Elizabeth Goudge's 1946 children's book "The Little White Horse." It's the story of a 13-year-old's adventure into a magical world from which she must banish an ancient curse.
Colin Firth is set to star as the girl's eccentric uncle, with other cast yet to be announced. The U.K.'s Spice Factory, U.S./Australian shingle Forgan-Smith Entertainment and Csupo's own Grand Allure Entertainment are producing, with London-based sales outfit Velvet Octopus brokering the financing for the $25 million project and handling worldwide sales.
3/31/14: Daily Mail (by Sebastian Shakespeare)
Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson let the cat out of the bag at the Empire Film Awards on Sunday. She revealed that Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s lavish, star-studded film adaptation of My Fair Lady is not going ahead.
Thompson wrote several drafts for the movie, but she said backstage: ‘I did a new version of My Fair Lady, which they’re not making.’
Mackintosh’s plans to update the 1964 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison have been troubled from the start. Keira Knightley and director Danny Boyle dropped out of the film, Carey Mulligan auditioned for Eliza Doolittle and Colin Firth at one stage was keen to play Professor Henry Higgins. ‘They ended up with a director, John Madden, but they couldn’t find the right Eliza Doolittle, and there were also complex rights issues at play,’ I’m told.
7/2/13: New York Post (by Michael Riedel)
"Hathaway and Firth can’t commit to more than six months, so the Nederlanders have had to look elsewhere." Read more here
2/20/13: USA Today (by Elysa Gardner)
In conjunction with the release of his new book, Clive Davis stated that he is planning to mount a Broadway revival of My Fair Lady with Anne Hathaway and Colin Firth, now that the movie has fallen through.
This project will involve theater veterans Roger Berlind, Scott Landis and the Nederlander Organization, and Davis' top choice for a director is Bartlett Sher, the Tony Award winner whose Broadway credits include acclaimed revivals of such American classics as South Pacific, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and, this season, Golden Boy.
8/21/11: The Telegraph (by Richard Egan)
Mandrake hears that the actor [Colin Firth] has told Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Duncan Kenworthy that he will play Professor Henry Higgins to Carey Mulligan’s Eliza Doolittle in their remake of My Fair Lady. “He is keen,” says an associate.
The script for the musical has been written by Emma Thompson. As with Firth’s role in The King’s Speech, his part was offered, but rejected, by Hugh Grant.
Kenworthy is coy. “It’s in the planning stages, so it’s not the time to talk about casting,” he tells me. Keira Knightley took singing lessons to play Eliza before Mulligan was cast.
***********
This project has been under development for several years, with nothing certain except that Emma Thompson really wanted someone named Hugh (Laurie and then Grant) to play Henry Higgins and she pronounced 'Audrey Hepburn...twee, mumsy and really couldn't act'. The highly publicized power struggles and personnel changes have played out more like an episode of the miniseries Rome. I'll attempt to summarize.
With the project's first director (Danny Boyle) came Keira Knightley (really is she any better than the "twee" Audrey Hepburn?). While Emma Thompson told anyone and everyone that she wanted Hugh Grant for Higgins, apparently the director wanted Daniel Day-Lewis but could not tempt him (I always thought he had good judgment). Exit KK. Then Working Title snagged John Madden (director of Shakespeare in Love) and Carey Mulligan. Other names bandied about have been director Joe Wright, Daniel Craig, Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Gemma Arterton and Emily Blunt. From all printed reports, John Madden took issue with the possibility that Grant might be his leading man and departed for awhile. Evidently, Colin is an acceptable compromise.
12/08/12: twitchfilm (by Todd Brown) Colin Firth Turns Down Spike Lee's OLDBOY
Last month Twitch broke word that The King's Speech star Colin Firth had been offered the villain role in Spike Lee's upcoming remake of Oldboy. Firth would confirm the offer in subsequent interviews while playing coy about his intended response...Well, they're going to need to find another kidnapper. Twitch has learned that Firth has now officially passed on the project...
11/11/11: twitchfilm (by Todd Brown)
Twitch has learned that an offer is out to Firth for the part of Adrian, which means that—should he accept—he will be stepping into the villain role opposite Josh Brolin.
6/17/14: Empire (Phil de Semlyen)
It’s as well a bear can rest at ease with just the bare necessities of life, because for the time being at least, Paddington is a bear without a voice. StudioCanal has confirmed that Colin Firth, the voice of Paddington in Paul King’s live-action/CG family adventure, has officially exited the movie in a move the actor describes as a “conscious uncoupling” that took place during the recording process.
“It’s been bittersweet to see this delightful creature take shape and come to the sad realisation that he simply doesn't have my voice,” says Firth, hinting that the decision has been in the bath waters of Windsor Gardens for some time. “After a period of denial we've chosen conscious uncoupling. I've had the joy of seeing most of the film and it's going to be quite wonderful. I still feel rather protective of this bear and I'm pestering them all with suggestions for finding a voice worthy of him."
Says director Paul King: “Colin Firth has been a joy to collaborate with and I cannot thank him enough for his contribution to Paddington. We love the voice and we love the bear - but as our young bear came into being we agreed that the two didn’t seem to fit. So, with somewhat heavy hearts we decided to part ways. We are excited about the next chapter for Paddington, ensuring his big-screen debut is magnificent.”
At the end of my chat with “Arthur Newman” star Colin Firth Friday, I asked that Evergreen, “What’s next?”...He says the Barbra Streisand directed period piece romance "Skinny and Cat," which would have had the Oscar winning Firth playing Southern writer Erskine Caldwell "doesn't appear to one I'll get to do."
04/08/13: Showbizz411 (Roger Friedman)
Streisand and Blanchett are no longer involved in the project; Streisand is pursuing her own film about the couple. The original screenwriter Linda Yellen has two other producing partners, financing for the film and has cast Rachel Weisz in the Bourke-White role. The project is looking for a director now.
02/09/13: Variety (by Robert Mitchell)
While no details have been released, Barbra Streisand has signed a deal to direct with Aldamisa International (producers) and financing provided by Kilburn Media. Streisand is contemplating several projects.
06/21/12: Showbiz411 (Roger Friedman)
Barbra Streisand has agreed to direct “Skinny and Cat,” an epic love story about writer Erskine Caldwell and photojournalist Margaret Bourke White. Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett are officially attached, and Linda Yellen is producing from a script she wrote. The film will be independently financed, with CAA putting together the package.
The film has a go date for January 2013.
6/14/12: Los Angeles Times
Streisand said she will turn her attention to another $20 million project that has proved harder to finance - a script she wrote more than 25 years ago and intends to direct about the romance between photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White and writer Erskine Caldwell, with Cate Blanchett and Colin Firth attached to star.
"This is hard to raise money for?" Streisand said. "I'm just in shock. Hollywood has changed so much. It's about a woman ahead of her time. It's just a fascinating story that is very relevant to today. I may have to pick up the phone again."
Although Stanley Tucci has his hands full playing a neurosurgeon on his new "3 Lbs." series, he is not neglecting his big screen career. He's preparing to direct a film in England once "3 Lbs." wraps for the season—"A Small Wonder." "It takes place in the early part of the 19th century, about a very depressed town that comes to believe the end of the world is near. It's sort of a romantic fable/comedy," he says. Colin Firth is already aboard to star.
11/17/06: halife.com by Eirik Knutsen
A third feature film collaboration between the two [Stanley Tucci and Tony Shaloub] last year was scrubbed when the funding fell through. With lots of luck and some finesse, Tucci hopes to direct his next film, "Small Wonder," in England next year during hiatus from "3 Lbs." "I'm prepping for the shoot now, meanwhile staying home and making good money to free me up financially," he says. The cast already includes Emily Blount and Colin Firth.
6/08/11: Variety (by Justin Kroll)
Matthew Goode is in talks for the male lead in Fox Searchlight's "Stoker"...Goode's part has been a hot item among many leading men in Hollywood: Colin Firth and James Franco were both at one point considered front-runners; when they moved on, thesps such as Michael Fassbender and Joel Edgerton had also shown interest.
5/15/11: Total Film (Richard Jordan)
In Cannes...Mia Wasikowska [talked] about her upcoming project, Stoker. “I’m really excited about that,” she enthused. “The story is about a young girl whose father dies and then she has this strange dynamic with her mum and uncle. It’s a thriller/drama kind of film but it’s really exciting.” Co-starring heavyweight Oscar winners Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, Stoker also marks the English-language debut of Oldboy director Park Chan-wook–someone Wasikowska can’t wait to work with.
Stoker is set to start shooting later this year for a 2012 release.
2/11/11: Los Angeles Times (by Nicole Sperling)
Both Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman have been on the circuit in a big way for months and now it looks as if the two will be partnering for the drama "Stoker" from actor-writer Wentworth Miller and Fox Searchlight.
According to my colleague Steve Zeitchik, the lead acting contenders will play sister- and brother-in-law in the film that "Oldboy" director Chan Wook-Park will helm. Also in the cast is the "Kids Are All Right" daughter Mia Wasikowska, who plays the daughter who befriends her uncle after her father suddenly passes away.
8/14/10: An exclusive in NY Magazine revealed that filming on Toyer is to start in late fall 2010 and into early winter in Venice. No information (new or otherwise) on cast provided.
10/4/06: According to De Palma al a Mod, De Palma will be shooting The Untouchables prequel in summer 2007. There's no definite date for Toyer. If he can get it organized, the shoot would have to start in January 2007, but he did not commit to that. Read entire interview here.
10/17/05: From firth.com's inside source, filming to begin in the spring of 2006, with location work in Venice. After a break, it will pick up again in May at other locations.
11/26/04: Entertainment Weekly: The one project tempting him is Brian De Palma’s thriller Toyer, about a womanizer who also happens to be a lobotomizer. “It’s about as dark as it gets,” he says. “I met with [De Palma] and we both said, “Let’s do it when we are both ready.”
4/4/04: De Palma adapted the story from Gardner McKay's two-act play, not the pulp novel published in 1998. It would not be set in Los Angeles.
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