STUDIOCANAL, FILM 4, BLUEPRINT PICTURES & SOUTH OF THE RIVER PICTURES’
WICKED LITTLE LETTERS
WORLD PREMIERE ANNOUNCED
TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL 2023
FIRST LOOK IMAGE RELEASED
IRISH RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED FOR 23RD FEBRUARY 2024
STARRING
OLIVIA COLMAN & JESSIE BUCKLEY
ANJANA VASAN, TIMOTHY SPALL, JOANNA SCANLAN, HUGH SKINNER, MALACHI KIRBY, GEMMA JONES, LOLLY ADEFOPE, EILEEN ATKINS AND ALISHA WEIR
STUDIOCANAL, FILM 4, BLUEPRINT PICTURES & SOUTH OF THE RIVER PICTURES release first look image and Irish release date, announcing the world premiere of WICKED LITTLE LETTERS at the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday 9th September at the Royal Alexandra.
Wicked Little Letters stars Academy Award® and BAFTA Film and Television winner Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter, The Favourite, The Crown) and Academy Award® and BAFTA Film and Television nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter, Chernobyl, Wild Rose). Alongside supporting cast Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts, Killing Eve), BAFTA Nominee Timothy Spall (Mr Turner, Spencer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 & 2), BAFTA winner Joanna Scanlan (After Love, Notes On A Scandal), Hugh Skinner (Fleabag, W1A, Mamma Mia), BAFTA winner Malachi Kirby (Small Axe, Anansi Boys), Gemma Jones (Bridget Jones trilogy, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 & 2), Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), Eileen Atkins (The Crown), and Alisha Weir (Matilda!). The film is directed by Thea Sharrock (Me Before You, The One and Only Ivan, The Beautiful Game), with a script by British actor and writer Jonny Sweet, based on a true story.
BLUEPRINT PICTURES (Emma, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) produce alongside SOUTH OF THE RIVER PICTURES (Landscapers) and Jo Wallett (Catherine Called Birdy, Emma). STUDIOCANAL CEO Anna Marsh, EVP Global Production Ron Halpern and SVP Global Production Joe Naftalin executive produce for STUDIOCANAL: Daniel Battsek, Ollie Madden and Farhana Bhula executive produce for FILM4, with People Person Pictures’ Jonny Sweet and Simon Bird also on board as executive producers.
Fiery Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley) has little in common with the pious Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) aside from them being neighbours in the seaside town of Littlehampton in the 1920’s. But one day, Edith and others in the town start receiving scandalous letters written with foul language as eccentric as it is obscene, and the finger of suspicion immediately falls on Rose. As Rose stands to lose her freedom and the custody of her daughter, and outrageous letters continue to blight the town, police officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) begins to suspect something is amiss. Together with a group of resourceful women, Gladys endeavours to solve the mystery, liberate Rose, and catch the real culprit…
STUDIOCANAL developed WICKED LITTLE LETTERS and will release in their territories: UK / Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Benelux. STUDIOCANAL is handling worldwide sales. The film is co-financed with Film4.
WICKED LITTLE LETTERS will be released theatrically in Ireland on 23rd February 2024.
About STUDIOCANAL (a CANAL+ Company)
STUDIOCANAL, a 100% affiliate of CANAL+ Group held by Vivendi, is Europe’s leader in production, distribution and international sales of feature films and series, operating in all nine major European markets – France, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Spain, Denmark and Benelux – as well as in Australia and New Zealand. It finances and produces around 30 films per year, distributes around 80 films per year. It owns the largest library in Europe and one of the most prestigious libraries in the world, boasting more than 8 000 titles from 60 countries, spanning 100 years of film history. 20 million euros has been invested into the restoration of 750 classic films over the past 5 years. In addition, STUDIOCANAL also produces almost 20 series each year and operates at an international level by globally distributing its scripted productions and CANAL+ Originals (2,000 hours of current and library content in distribution). All productions take place directly through STUDIOCANAL entities or with its award-winning network of 14 production companies in Europe and in the United States (STUDIOCANAL Series, LAILAPS FILMS, RED PRODUCTION COMPANY, URBAN MYTH FILMS, BAMBÚ PRODUCCIONES, STUDIOCANAL ORIGINAL, 2e BUREAU, SUNNYMARCH TV, SAM Productions, DINGIE, KINO SWIAT, BIRDIE PICTURES, STRONG FILM & TELEVISION, THE PICTURE COMPANY).
ABOUT BLUEPRINT PICTURES
Blueprint Pictures was founded in 2005 by Producers Pete Czernin and Graham Broadbent.
Blueprint is best known for films such as: Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh’s award-winning THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI which won five BAFTA awards including Best Film, four Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture, Drama, and two Academy Awards®: Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell; and THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, the follow up to the 2012 BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.
Blueprint’s two latest productions, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN written and directed by Martin McDonagh premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and went on to win 4 BAFTA Awards, and LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER, starring Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell premiered at Telluride before being released globally on Netflix. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is Blueprint’s fourth collaboration with McDonagh following THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI; IN BRUGES and SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS.
In 2024 Blueprint will release THE BEAUTIFUL GAME directed by Thea Sharrock, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, a film based on the Homeless World Cup football competition starring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward.
In the last two years Blueprint has released: A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS, based on the best-selling book by Matt Haig, directed by Gil Kenan starring Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Kristen Wiig; THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER directed by Augustine Frizzell, starring Felicity Jones and Shailene Woodley and EMMA directed by Autumn de Wilde starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia Goth, Callum Turner, Josh O’Connor, Johnny Flynn, Miranda Hart and Bill Nighy.
Blueprint produces projects for television too. In 2018, Blueprint produced A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL for BBC One and Amazon Prime, directed by Stephen Frears starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw. A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL won four BAFTAs, an Emmy, a Golden Globe and Critics Choice award. The follow-up, A VERY BRITISH SCANDAL directed by Anne Sewitsky, written by Sarah Phelps starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany aired in December 2021.
ABOUT SOUTH OF THE RIVER PICTURES
SOUTH OF THE RIVER PICTURES was founded by Olivia Colman and Ed Sinclair to develop and produce striking and original scripted comedy and drama with an authored sensibility. SOUTH OF THE RIVER has a full slate across Feature Films and TV. Its first production was Ed Sinclair’s multi-Bafta-winning TV series Landscapers, produced with SISTER for Sky Atlantic and HBO, and starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis. WICKED LITTLE LETTERS will be its first Feature.
ABOUT FILM4
Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking, both new and established.
Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, Academy Award®-winners such as Florian Zeller’s The Father, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Asif Kapadia’s box office record breaking documentary Amy, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Sarah Gavron’s Rocks, Rose Glass’s Saint Maud, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch, Chris Morris’s Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years.
Film4’s recent releases include Martin McDonagh’s BAFTA winning The Banshees of Inisherin, Oliver Hermanus’ Living, Florian Zeller’s The Son, Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men, Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning Titane, Rebecca Hall’s Passing, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, Will Sharpe’s The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day, Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor, and Jim Archer’s Brian & Charles. Forthcoming titles include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes Grand Prix winner The Zone of Interest, Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Molly Manning Walker’s Un Certain Regard prize-winning How to Have Sex, and Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding.
