Bookworm, starring Michael Smiley and Elijah Wood, has been acquired for distribution in Ireland and the UK by Signature Entertainment. Nell Fisher, who recently starred in Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, also stars in the film.
Signature Entertainment have picked up Irish and UK rights to Bookworm, directed by Ant Timpson (Come to Daddy). Michael Smiley (Bad Sisters), and Nell Fisher (Evil Dead Rise) will star alongside previously announced Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), in the family adventure comedy.
Bookworm tells the story of 12-year-old Mildred (Fisher) whose life is turned upside down when her estranged, washed-up American magician father, Strawn Wise (Wood), comes to look after her. Hoping to entertain the bookish tween, Strawn takes Mildred camping in the notoriously rugged New Zealand wilderness, and the pair embark on the ultimate test of family bonding: a quest to find the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
The screenplay was co-written by Timpson and Toby Harvard (The Greasy Strangler). Joining Smiley, Fisher, and Wood in the cast are Morgana O’Reilly (Housebound), and Nikki Si’ulepa (Same But Different: A True New Zealand Love Story).
Bookworm will be the second collaboration between Wood and Timpson, with the pair working together on Come to Daddy in 2018.
The film is produced by Emma Slade, Roxi Bull and Victoria Dabbs of Firefly Films and Mette-Marie Kongsved and Laura Tunstall of Nowhere. It is executive produced by Steven Demmler of Talon Entertainment Finance, Blair Ward and Anders Erdén of Orogen Entertainment, and Kelly Rogers and Kevin Gordon of Rialto Distribution.
