A STREET CAT NAMED BOB WINS BEST BRITISH FILM AT THE NATIONAL FILM AWARDS!

We are delighted for our clients Tim John and Roger Spottiswode that ‘A Street Cat Named Bob’ has won Best British Film at this year’s 3rd annual National Film Awards UK. The National Film Academy’s annual awards celebrates the UK’s best films and talent both in front and behind the cameras, and this year’s event, hosted at Porchester Hall in London, was home to a plethora of stars of industry.

The award, voted for by audiences, was hotly contested, and ‘Bob’ beat off competition including ‘Our Kind Of Traitor’, directed by Susanna White and starring Damien Lewis and Alan Skaarsard, and  ‘A United Kingdom’, directed by Amma Asante and starring Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo.

Directed by Roger, screenplay by Tim (and Maria Nation), and adapted from James Bowen’s international bestselling novel, ‘A Street Cat Named Bob’ is based on Bowen’s true life experiences on the streets. Produced by Adam Rolston at Shooting Script Films, and financed/exec produced by Prescience, the theatrical release was November 2016, and was greeted by warm reviews and strong box office. The film stars Luke Treadaway, Ruta Gedmintas, Joanne Froggatt, Anthony Head and Bob the Cat as himself. It is now available on DVD.

Luke Treadaway to star in film A STREET CAT NAMED BOB, scripted by Tim John and directed by Roger Spottiswoode

A film of James Bowen’s best-selling memoir A STREET CAT NAMED BOB scripted by Tim John (Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde) and directed by Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, Turner and Hooch, Midnight Sun) will commence production in October. 

A STREET CAT NAMED BOB tells the story of drop-out and busker, James Bowen, who was rescued from drug addiction by his relationship with the stray cat, Bob. James found the lame cat outside his sheltered accommodation and nursed it back to health, then took Bob busking with him. The book spent 76 weeks at the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list.

Adam Rolston is producing the film for Shooting Script Films, with Tim Smith and Paul Brett of Prescience (The King’s Speech, The Guard) on board as executive producers and financiers.

Luke Treadaway and Ruta Gedmintas will star in the lead roles. Luke recently won an Olivier Award for his performance in the stage version of The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time and has appeared in the films Clash of the Titans and Attack the Block. Ruta is known for FX series The Strain.

Tim John and Roger Spottiswoode are represented at Blake Friedmann by Conrad Williams.

For more information on the film, see these links:

The Guardian

Screen Daily

Variety

Roger Spottiswoode attached to direct feature film HYPERBARIC, written by Dominic Morgan and Matt Harvey

Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, Shake Hands with the Devil, Turner and Hooch) will direct Dominic Morgan and Matt Harvey’s film script HYPERBARIC. Rick Benattar and Nigel Thomas are producing the film for Mythic Entertainment and Matador Productions.

HYPERBARIC is a psychological thriller set on a ‘narco-submarine’, the crudely assembled vessels notoriously used by South American drug dealers to ferry narcotics without attracting the attention of the coast guard. The tense chamber piece follows four strangers, all with their own dark pasts, as they are forced to work together aboard a rickety submarine to smuggle a hugely valuable cargo of cocaine into the US.

HYPERBARIC is the third Morgan and Harvey screenplay to be set up in the last year, following THE BRIDGE (in development with Paradox, Simon West attached to direct) and THE CONTROLLER (Winkler Films and the Solution, with James McTeague attached to direct).

Roger Spottiswoode’s latest film, MIDNIGHT SUN, a family adventure about a boy’s friendship with a polar bear cub, will be released later this year.

Blake Friedmann Theatre News

Roger Spottiswoode's stage adaptation of William Golding's THE SPIRE has completed its world-premiere run at the Salisbury Playhouse, directed by Gareth Machin.

'An outstanding piece of theatre, thought provoking and utterly absorbing. Not to be missed.' -- What's on Stage

'A truly stunning, must-see production.' -- The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

'Tense, compelling and historically interesting, another excellent Playhouse production.' -- The Southern Daily Echo

Meanwhile, Paul Hodson's Edinburgh Fringe First winner MEETING JOE STRUMMER is being revived at The Cockpit in Marylebone until 22nd December.

Paul's play tells the story of Nick and Steve, whose lives were transformed by Joe Strummer and The Clash.

Tickets are available here.

'Magnificently simple, heartfelt, clear and brave...one of only a couple of shows on this fringe that have actually made me cry, and many other people in the audience too.' -- Joyce MacMillan, The Scotsman 

'Punk defined a generation of Thatcher's children who went on to sell out and become something in the City. But where did all that idealism and integrity go? Paul Hodson's two-hander is not just a piece of nostalgia, but an entertaining account of how time slips away and how, even years later, we can still recall what it felt like to be 16.' -- Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

'Glowing with warmth, humour and self-deprecation… sincere and inspiring' -- Metro