'Camelot' Rolls into Ireland's Ardmore Studios | The Irish Film & Television Network

Principal photography will commence on Monday at Ardmore Studios and will take in various locations in the surrounding Wicklow area. Speaking to IFTN today, MD of Ardmore Studios Kevin Moriarty, said “’Camelot’ is an important series in the ongoing development of Ardmore Studios, following on the momentum generated by ‘The Tudors’ over the last four years.”

Indeed the drama re-unites many of the award winning team behind ‘The Tudors’ series which filmed in Ireland from 2006 – 2009. Irish director Ciaran Donnelly takes the helm for the first two episodes and will be followed by Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa - both directors worked on ‘The Tudors’ with Donnelly winning an IFTA for his efforts in 2009. Danish director Mikael Salomon (A Far Off Place, Hard Rain) will lead the team for episodes 5 & 6. Salomon has received two Oscar nominations for his cinematography work (Backdraft, The Abyss) and includes the Irish shot ‘Far and Away’ in his long list of DOP credits.

Other ‘Tudors’ alumni include line producer Séamus McInerney, Emmy winning Irish costume designer Joan Bergin (The Prestige, Veronica Guerin), Emmy nominated Irish production designer Tom Conroy (Breakfast on Pluto, Intermission) and Emmy nominated Chief Hairdresser Dee Corcoran (King Arthur).

Shooting on HD format, ‘Camelot’ also brings to Irish shores Emmy nominated DOP Joel Ransom, whose series credits include ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Band of Brothers’. Other key Irish crew includes Tom McInerney (Single Handed, Garage), who heads up the Make-Up department; Dan Birch (In America, Murphy’s Law) will mix the sound and Stephen O'Connell (Borstal Boy, Proof) will be in the edit suite. The post production will take place in Canada with Dublin’s Windmill Lane Studios handling the transfers. Cameras and lighting are from Panavision.

‘Camelot’ is an Irish-Canadian co-production which is due to air on US premium channel Starz Entertainment in 2011. Academy Award® winning producer Graham King (The Tourist, The Departed) along with Tim Headington and newly appointed GK-TV President Craig Cegielski will serve as Executive Producers on ‘Camelot’, additional Executive Producers include Morgan O’Sullivan (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Tudors) and James Flynn of the Irish production company Octagon, Michael Hirst (The Tudors) and Douglas Rae (Nowhere Boy, Becoming Jane) of UK’s Ecosse Films.

“I am excited to be part of this project not only because it is an amazing story, but it allows me to collaborate once again with Chris Albrecht and Douglas Rae,” said Irish producer Morgan O’Sullivan.

‘The Tudors’ Michael Hirst created the series which has been written by Chris Chibnall (Life on Mars, Torchwood). Based on Thomas Malory’s 15th century work ‘Le Morte d’Arthur’, Ecosse Films’ CEO Douglas Rae has described ‘Camelot’ as “one of the greatest stories ever told,” adding “we are thrilled to be working with Starz, Octagon and Graham King on such an ambitious production.”

‘Camelot’ is set to weave authenticity into a modern telling of the Arthur legends that is relatable to contemporary audiences. The starry cast includes the previously announced Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, Jamie Campbell Bower, Tamsin Egerton, Claire Forlani and Peter Mooney.

Starz has all U.S. rights - including home entertainment and digital distribution - to ‘Camelot’; GK-TV will handle the rest of the world.

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