New Lassie Film Starring Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton and Peter Dinklage

New Lassie Film Starring Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton and Peter Dinklage

Charles Sturridge's Lassie to Begin Principal Photography on May 23rd in Ireland

Odyssey Entertainment to Handle Worldwide Distribution Rights

LONDON, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Writer-Director-Producer Charles Sturridge (Fairytale, Longitude, Shackleton) will commence principal photography on Lassie on May 23. The seven-week shoot will film on location in Ireland and the Isle of Man. Lassie will be produced by Element Films' Ed Guiney (The Magdalene Sisters, Disco Pigs, Omagh, Boy Eats Girl) and Firstsight Films' Charles Sturridge and Francesca Barra (Shackleton, The Lawless Heart) in conjunction with Classic Media. Charles Sturridge wrote the script, based on Eric Knight's classic 1938 novel Lassie Come Home.

Legendary actor Peter O'Toole, a seven-time Academy Award nominee for such classics as Lawrence of Arabia, Goodbye Mr. Chips and The Ruling Class, as well as the 2003 recipient of an Honorary Oscar for his achievements in film, has signed on to star as the Duke of Rudling. Academy Award nominee Samantha Morton (Sweet and Lowdown, Minority Report) has been cast as Sarah Carraclough. Peter Dinklage (Elf, The Station Agent) will star as Rowlie. Additional cast members include, Steve Pemberton (League of Gentlemen), John Lynch (The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Sliding Doors, In the Name of the Father), Jemma Redgrave (Howards End) and Gregor Fisher (The Merchant of Venice, Love Actually and the hit BBC TV series Rab C. Nesbitt).

Odyssey Entertainment will handle the worldwide distribution rights for Lassie.

The film is set on the eve of WWII in a Yorkshire mining town. After falling on hard times, the Carraclough family is forced to sell Lassie, their beloved dog, to the Duke of Rudling. When Lassie finds herself transported five hundred miles away to live in the Duke's remote castle on the northern coast of Scotland, she is determined to defy the odds and return to her home. So begins an incredible adventure, set against a stunning series of British landscapes, that sees Lassie facing dangers natural and human and finding help in unexpected places as she makes her way across the country, to reach home in time for Christmas. This re-telling of the classic story promises all the love, trust and heroism a family audience could ask for.

Samuel Hadida and Victor Hadida will co-produce through their Davis Films (Domino; Silent Hill). Executive Producers are Ralph Kamp and Louise Goodsill (Odyssey Entertainment); Doug Schwalbe and Eric Ellenbogen (Classic Media); Steve Christian (Isle Of Man) and Andrew Lowe (Element Films).

The timeless Lassie story has already resonated with the international distribution community. Entertainment Film Distributors will distribute the film in the UK (releasing Christmas 2005) and Shochiku have picked up the rights in Japan. Odyssey have also locked in deals in Taiwan (Applause Entertainment); Turkey (Avsar Film); Benelux (Belga Films); Eastern Europe (Revolutionary Releasing); Portugal (LNK Audiovisuais); France (Metropolitan Filmexport); Middle East (Phars Film); Indonesia (PT Amero); Thailand (Sahamongkol); Iceland (SamFilm); Israel (Shapira Films) and Greece (Village Roadshow).

Lassie is one of entertainment's most successful franchises with ten feature films and more than 675 half-hour TV episodes to her credit. The original Lassie movie was followed by a series of sequels with Hollywood legends Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Roddy McDowell and Jimmy Stewart. Lassie's two-time Emmy Award-winning TV series is one of the longest running programmes in television history and has been seen in more than 50 countries around the world.

About Classic Media

Classic Media manages some of the world's most recognisable family properties across all media including feature film, television, home video and consumer products. The company's extensive library features a diverse collection of popular animated and live-action characters such as: Lassie, Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Lone Ranger, Underdog and Rocky & Bullwinkle.

Classic Media is currently developing a live-action/CGI Underdog feature film with Spyglass Entertainment, a live-action/CGI Sherman & Peabody project with Sproketdyne Entertainment and a live-action The Lone Ranger movie with Columbia Pictures and Academy Award-winning producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher (Gladiator, Stuart Little) through their Sony-based Red Wagon Productions.

About Firstsight Films

Firstsight Films, set up by Charles Sturridge and producers Selwyn Roberts and Francesca Barra, produced the BAFTA award-winning Shackleton, starring Kenneth Branagh, and is currently developing projects with HBO Films and the British Film Council. Their first documentary feature Andrew and Jeremy Get Married directed by Don Boyd was selected for the 2004 Toronto Film Festival.

About Odyssey Entertainment

Odyssey Entertainment is an international film sales and finance business based in London. It was founded by Ralph Kamp, previously CEO of Icon International, and Louise Goodsill, an independent producer and financier. Other notable projects for Odyssey include the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" (a $83m big screen adaptation of the worlds biggest single entertainment franchise directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and distributed in North America by Warner Bros.), Valiant (a $40m animated feature from John H. Williams, the Oscar winning producer of the billion-dollar box office hits Shrek and Shrek 2) to be distributed in North America by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, and The Libertine (Johnny Depp, John Malkovich and Samantha Morton star in a $22m adaptation of Stephen Jeffrey's award winning play).

Element Films and Odyssey Entertainment are also the team behind Boy Eats Girl. A comedy horror film about a teenage date that goes disastrously wrong, bringing with it bloody mayhem to suburbia. Starring Samantha Mumba (The Time Machine) and David Leon (Alexander) and directed by Stephen Bradley, Boy Eats Girl will premier at the Cannes market with screenings on the 12th, 13th and 14th May at 4:00pm at the Olympia 5.

About Element Films

Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe run Element Films, a film and television drama production company based in Dublin. Element's films for release in 2005 include Adam and Paul (Lenny Abrahamson) a debut film which premiered in Berlin, The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (Steve Bendelack) produced with Tiger Aspect Pictures for Universal/Film Four, Isolation (Billy O'Brien) produced with The Bureau/Blue Orange for Lions Gate/Film Four/Redbus, Boy Eats Girl (Stephen Bradley) for Odyssey/Optimum as well as LASSIE (Charles Sturridge) produced with Firstsight for Classic Media/Odyssey which is currently in production and will be released for Christmas 2005 in the UK via Entertainment Film Distributors. Element Films are also acting as the Irish co-producer on the new Ken Loach film, The Wind that Shakes the Barley which is also currently shooting in Ireland.

Recent productions include Omagh (2003), directed by Pete Travis, which won the BAFTA for Best Single Film 2004 as well as the Discovery Award at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival and The Magdalene Sisters (2002) (Peter Mullan) which was a major critical success winning the Golden Lion at Venice 2002, the Discovery Award in the Toronto Film Festival 2002 and the Audience Award at the Ljubljana Film Festival 2002.

Element also runs a joint venture with Jim Sheridan and Arthur Lappin, Hells Kitchen International which acted as co-producer on Laws Of Attraction (2003) for New Line and The Honeymooners (2004) for Paramount.

For further information please contact:
Sasha Junk, Classic Media
Tel: + 212 659 1993
Email: sj@classicmedia.tv

Mira Husseini, DDA PR
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7932 9800
Email: mira.husseini@ddapr.com

Matthew Hampton, Odyssey Entertainment
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7520 5618
Email: matthew@odyssey-entertainment.co.uk

Source: Classic Media

CONTACT: Sasha Junk, Classic Media, +1-212-659-1993, sj@classicmedia.tv;
or Mira Husseini, DDA PR, +44-20-7932-9800, mira.husseini@ddapr.com; or
Matthew Hampton, Odyssey Entertainment, +44-20-7520-5618,
matthew@odyssey-entertainment.co.uk

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