Beta Cinema has closed its first presales on period drama The Offing starring Helena Bonham Carter. Curzon, Cineart and Madman have joined forces to acquire all rights for UK/Ireland, Benelux and Australia/New Zealand in what is described as a competitive situation. The distributors will work on an aligned campaign across the markets. Beta first launched The Offing at the EFM in February. Filming is lined up for later this year.
The UK-set project is directed by Emmy-winner Jessica Hobbs (The Crown) with Bonham Carter among executive producers. The screenplay is by Amy Roberts (The Winter King, Call the Midwife).
Based on the bestselling novel by Benjamin Myers, the story unfolds in the northeast of England, shortly after WW II. It opens on Robert, the shy 16-year-old nature-loving son of a miner who sets out to see a little more of the world before he follows his father down the pit. He gets as far as Dulcie Piper (Bonham Carter), a hard drinking, foul-mouthed, bohemian recluse several times his age. Under her eccentric tutelage, his life opens to food, girls and the transformative beauty of poetry as Dulcie recognizes a potential in Robert that he doesn’t yet see in himself. But while Dulcie’s cottage and garden by the sea are idyllic, this place holds a tragic secret about Dulcie’s great love. When Robert discovers the truth, his brave and tender friendship compels Dulcie to open her own heart and re-engage with the world.
The novel was published by Bloomsbury in August 2020 and was selected as a Times Book of the Year, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, a Reading Agency Book of the Year and an iBook of the Year.
Hobbs is currently co-directing the HBO limited series The Palace together with Stephen Frears. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for War and was also nominated for an Emmy in 2020 for the finale of Season 3 of Cri De Coeur. Hobbs and Oscar-nominee Bonham Carter previously worked together on The Crown.
The Offing is produced by Charlotte Walls and Emily Barttelot at Catalyst Global Media, who developed the film with support from Beta Cinema.
The deal was brokered by Thorsten Ritter and Tassilo Hallbauer of Beta Cinema and Louisa Dent, Marc Smit and Paul Wiegard on behalf of Curzon, Cineart and Madman.
Bonham Carter is represented by Conway van Gelder Grant. Hobbs is represented by Casarotto Ramsay and Associates and CAA.