Stephen Dillane has joined the cast of Working Title Films’ Winston Churchill project Darkest Hour, directed by Joe Wright and starring Gary Oldman as the legendary British Prime Minister.
Focus Features holds worldwide rights to the title, which has begun production in the UK, and is releasing it domestically on November 24, 2017. Universal Pictures International will distribute the film globally starting with a December 29, 2017 UK release date.
British actor Dillane, whose credits include Game of Thrones and Zero Dark Thirty, joins Oldman with John Hurt, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn and Kristin Scott Thomas in the project, which is written by The Theory of Everything scribe Anthony McCarten.
Story sees Churchill face one of his most turbulent and defining trials within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent and with an unprepared public, a sceptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation and attempt to change the course of world history.
McCarten produces with Lisa Bruce (The Theory of Everything) and Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as well as Douglas Urbanski. Project sees Oldman reteam with Focus and Working Title for the first time since 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, for which Oldman was a Best Actor nominee.
Brit production powerhouse Working Title is coming off of the back of a banner year. Last month, it became the first British company to hit the $1 billion mark at the U.K. box office. Its recent release, threequel Bridget Jones’s Baby, is currently the highest grossing film of 2016 at the UK box office, taking £46.2M ($57.2M) to date in the territory.
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