Oscar and BAFTA-winning film producer David Parfitt is hoping to reunite with French producer Philippe Carcassonne following their successful collaboration on Florian Zeller’s Oscar-nominated drama The Father.
Parfitt revealed his plans during a masterclass at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent incubator event on Sunday.
“He [Carcassonne] is developing something really interesting based on an Israeli novel called Pain, which he commissioned as a French screenplay but they have decided they want to do it in England in English,” Parfitt, clarified after the talk.
The 2019 novel by Zeruya Shalev revolves around a woman revisiting the double trauma of being caught up in a terror attack and her abandonment by a lover when he comes back into her life a decade later.
Carcassonne’s partner, the actress and director Anne Fontaine, whose credits include Coco Before Chanel, is attached to direct the film, in what would be her first English-language production.
“Philippe has said, “Let’s see if we can get that going’. It’s at the very early stages, we don’t have the English-language script yet,” he said.
Parfitt revealed his company Trademark Films is also in early development on a futuristic adaptation of Hamlet called Hamlet Prince Of Wales.
“It’s way off yet but it’s a Hamlet set in the near future in England,” he said. “I won’t say it dystopian because that always sounds so clichéd. The idea is that democracy has collapsed and the monarchy has taken over again and our Hamlet is based around that.”
“There’s nothing to announce as yet. There is no cast, no funding. We’re just developing the script,” he added. “If we start getting towards cast we will probably try to announce late summer if we’re going in the right direction.”
The producer revealed there is a director in the frame, however, teasing “it is someone with theatre connections”.
Recently completed films on Parfitt’s slate include UK director Georges Jaques’s Black Dog, on which he is executive producer.
The tale follows two London youngsters from different backgrounds who set off on a road trip to Northern England, discovering they have more in common than they first thought along the way.
Jamie Flatters (Avatar: The Way Of Water) co-stars and also takes a co-writing credit, with other key cast members including Keenan Munn-Francis and Nicholas Pinnock.
“George Jaques and Jamie Flatters have written this together, a bit like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, initially for themselves, although quite rightly, George decided not to be in it, and they shot it on a micro-budget. They’ve just finished it and I think it’s rather good,”
The film’s completion coincides with the recent announcement of Parfitt being appointed chair of UK’s North East Film film commission.
“It’s pure coincidence. I signed up for it ages ago. I was on it as a type of exec producer, godfather figure. I think they’ve done a really good job on it.”
Sunday’s masterclass cast a wide net over Parfitt’s career, beginning with his early collaborations with Kenneth Brannagh on Henry V, Peter’s Friends and Much Ado About Nothing and later high points including Oscar winner Shakespeare In Love, My Week With Marilyn and The Father.
Responding to a question on the politics of working with big names in the film business, Parfitt revealed his frustration with U.S. agents.
“I try to avoid American agents who I think are the worst. I think they are the least creative people on the planet. I try to deal with [people] in London and with Europeans who want to make films for the right reasons.”
Parfitt clarified this comment in a chat after the masterclass, explaining it stemmed from his difficulties connecting with U.S. agents to discuss potential talent attachments for productions he is getting off the ground.
Asked what he wanted from the U.S. big agents, he replied: “I want them to genuinely encourage independent film by reading our scripts and taking our calls.”
“I will phone up any big agent in the UK and say, ‘I’d you like to read it yourself. If you, the agent, like it, put it to your client. I won’t put an offer with it because there is no finance, no money, I will be using your client to raise the finance.”
“The agents in America will go, ‘What’s the offer?’ They want a money offer before they will show it. I think they could do more to support truly independent films in the UK by actually passing things on to their clients without a financial offer.”
