It was a long time between drinks for Terence Davies - excluding, of course, his terrific documentary work - but he seems to have rediscovered the bug for feature filmmaking. His next film, Sunset Song, is coming to fruition and has kicked off Cannes by adding Peter Mullan and Agyness Deyn to its cast roster and scoring an international distribution deal with Fortissimo Films.
Like his last film, The Deep Blue Sea, Sunset Song is a period piece with literary roots. In this case, the adaptation stems from a novel rather than a stage play: Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 1932 tale of family dysfunction and rural life in north east Scotland.
It's been another Davies project with a tough infancy. The UK Film Council quailed at its tough subject matter and, according to the director, withdrew funding in 2006; understandable perhaps, considering the story kicks off with suicide and a double infanticide. Deyn will play Chris Guthrie, a grieving daughter forced to work the land and deal with the unwanted attentions of her bruising father (Mullan). The Adventures Of Milo And Otis, this ain't.
Sunset Song reunites Davies with The House Of Mirth producer Bob Last and will shoot in Scotland. As always with the great Liverpudlian, this will be one to watch.