Following The Riot Club, Sam Clafin is set to re-team with director Lone Scherfig next year for **Their Finest Hour And A Half. Lily James will also star in the adaptation of Lissa Evans' novel.
The book, set during World War II, tells the comical story of a disparate group of people brought together in Norfolk to make a British propaganda film. A forgotten actor from the silent movie age, an advertising copywriter from the Ministry of Information, a Madame Tussauds' costumier and a caterer-turned-military advisor are all pitched in to craft the unlikely narrative of two women in a rowing boat who head off on a rescue mission to Dunkirk. They initially dislike each other, of course, but rally round in the cause of wartime morale.
All the pleasing hallmarks of an Ealing comedy there (plus something of the vibe of Dad's Army), but Their Finest Hour And A Half comes courtesy of the BBC and Stephen Woolley's Number 9 Films. Further deals will be brokered at the American Film Market next month. Woolley and Amanda Posey are producing, and the screenplay is by Gaby Chiappe (Lark Rise To Candleford).
Shooting starts next summer. Evans' novel, which was shortlisted for the 2009 Orange Prize, is published in the UK by Black Swan.