Following months of delays, shutdowns and cinema closures, we're finally starting to see some hopeful signs of recovery for the film industry in the UK, and another new announcement is adding to that. Ellie Bamber, Mehdi Dehbi and Rupert Penry-Jones are on to star in Prisoners Of Paradise.
Mitch Jenkins is in the director's chair for the film, which represents one of the first major films to go into production (rather than those which have just geared back up). The story follows orphaned, 17-year-old Lucy Gladwell (Bamber), who has been sent from England to live under the guardianship of her uncle George Huyton (Penry-Jones). Initially seduced by the sumptuous beauty of her surroundings and the charm of her new family, Lucy sees George as a benign, humorous, and loving man who has her best interests at heart. But beneath this veneer of civilisation, lies a dark, violent force, that wants to entrap, rule, and use her. When Lucy falls in love with Krishna (Dehbi), a labourer working on a nearby plantation, she finds herself at odds with her uncle, the ways of his world and his plans of an arranged marriage for her. No matter how fleeting Lucy and Krishna’s time together may be, the passion and all-consuming nature of true love is something neither can deny.
It's all set in Mauritius in 1925, with Alan Govinden and Jason Wingard writing the script. The cameras should be rolling on the island in late September. Fingers crossed everything starts to come back sooner rather than later (safety permitting, naturally).