They both have Oscars sitting on their mantelpiece and now **Man On Wire/**The Theory Of Everything director James Marsh and King’s Speech actor Colin Firth are weighing actor for what could be another prestige project. They’ve both signed on to BBC Films’ drama about amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst.
If the name doesn’t ring any bells, Crowhurst entered the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1968 in the hopes of picking up a cash prize that would help save his faltering radio beacon business. He built a trimaran boat called the Teignmouth Electron in a hurry, but had to leave several safety features uncompleted before setting sail. He encountered problems almost immediately and began to steer erratically, eventually succumbing to conflicted psychological issues and irrationality. Though he kept filing positions claiming he was circumnavigating the globe, his boat – spoiler alert – was found adrift and abandoned on 10 July 1969.
With Firth set to play Crowhurst, Marsh will start the cameras rolling in the spring, working from a script by Side Effects’ Scott Z. Burns. Firth will be back on our screens this week in Kingsman: The Secret Service.