Director Neil Jordan is currently in prep with ‘Byzantium’, a new vampire film that is to star Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) and Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe). The feature will reunite Jordan with previous collaborators, Stephen Woolley and Alan Moloney who are set to produce the film which will shoot in October.
‘Byzantium’s plot comes from a play by Moira Buffini which centres on a young mother and her teenage both of whom are vampires. The pair form a lethal bloodsucking partnership following their arrival in a suburban town. Gemma Arterton will play the mother with Saoirse Ronan taking on the role of her daughter. Buffini, Number 9 Films and Dublin's Parallel Films have developed the film script from the original stage version.
The film will mark the second time that Number 9 Films’ Stephen Woolley and Neil Jordan will work on a vampire film together, having worked together on the 1994 Oscar nominated, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ along with several other Oscar nominated and award winning projects throughout the years including ‘The End of the Affair’; ‘The Butcher Boy’ and ‘Michael Collins’ and 'Breakfast on Pluto', which Alan Moloney also produced. Moloney and Number 9's Liz Karlsen (Made in Dagenham) complete the team of producers working on 'Byzantium'.
The £8 million feature is set to shoot in October with shooting locations TBC. The feature has been developed with the assistance of The UK Film Council (£10,625), Parallel Films and the Irish Film Board.
