Doctor Who star David Tennant, shortly to star as Arthur Eddington in BBC Two’s Einstein And Eddington, joins an all-star cast in Stephen Poliakoff’s Second World War thriller 1939.
Filming starts today on a six-week shoot as Poliakoff returns to cinema following a run of acclaimed television dramas including last year’s Capturing Mary and Joe’s Palace.
Set between present-day London and the idyllic Norfolk countryside in the lead up to the Second World War, the story is centred around the Keyes family who are keen to uphold and preserve their traditional way of life.
Award-winning British actress Romola Garai (Atonement) takes the lead as Anne, alongside BAFTA-winning actor Bill Nighy (Notes On A Scandal, Love Actually), who plays her father Alexander.
Oscar-winning actress Julie Christie (Away From Her, Finding Neverland) plays the formidable Aunt Elizabeth, Eddie Redmayne (The Other Boleyn Girl) as Anne’s brother Ralph and Juno Temple (Wild Child) as their younger sister Celia.
Tennant plays family friend Hector, Charlie Cox (Stardust) stars as Anne’s lover Lawrence, Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park) as the shady government operative Balcombe and legendary Dracula star Christopher Lee is Walter.
Poliakoff has described himself as “very excited to be making this film about a period that has always fascinated me, the extraordinary machinations that went on in British society on the eve of war.”
1939 is a talkbackTHAMES production in association with Magic Light Pictures, funded by BBC Films, the UK Film Council and Screen East.
