PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY TO BEGIN ON HOW I LIVE NOW
25th June, London. Principal photography for Kevin Macdonald’s big screen adaptation of
Meg Rosoff’s multi award winning novel How I Live Now will start on 25th June for 8 weeks in
England and Wales.
Starring Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones, Hanna),
the youngest ever BAFTA award-winner Harley Bird (‘Peppa Pig’) and British Independent
Film Award nominee George MacKay (The Boys Are Back, Hunky Dory), How I Live Now is
the latest film from Academy Award winning director Kevin Macdonald (One Day In
September, Marley, The Last King of Scotland). The screenplay is written by Jeremy Brock
(The Eagle, The Last King of Scotland) Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, ‘Red
Riding Trilogy’), and Penelope Skinner (“The Village Bike” at the Royal Court, ‘Fresh Meat’).
Daisy (Ronan), a teenager from New York, is sent to the English countryside for the summer
to stay with cousins. She soon immerses herself in a dreamy pastoral idyll as she falls
madly in love with Eddie (MacKay), until their perfect summer is blown apart by the sudden
outbreak of a 21st century world war. Along with Eddie’s younger siblings, Isaac (Tom
Holland) and Piper (Bird), they are left in isolation and forced to fend for themselves. When
they are violently separated Daisy must embark on a terrifying journey in order to be reunited
with the boy she loves. Eddie is never far from Daisy’s mind but as her journey to find him
becomes more desperate, the idea of what she may or may not find consumes her
consciousness and haunts her soul.
Kevin Macdonald said “How I live Now is a book that captivated me as soon as I read it 5 or
6 years ago, with its combination of humour, teen romance and dystopia. I think that with the
tremendous young cast we have managed to assemble - centred around the brilliant Saoirse
Ronan - we can do the book justice - and more. I can't wait to start shooting!”
Produced by Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind of Cowboy Films and Andrew Ruhemann and
John Battsek of Passion Pictures, the film is co-developed by Film4 and the UK Film Council
and co-financed by Film4 and BFI Film Fund. Momentum Pictures, an Alliance Films
Company, will distribute in the UK, with Protagonist Pictures selling internationally. Deals
are already in place with Alliance Films for Canada, TF1 for France, Madman for
Australia/New Zealand, Impuls in Switzerland, Lusomundo in Portugal, Front Row for the
Middle East, Carmen for CIS and Ablo for Eastern Europe.
Link to the official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HowILiveNow
For more information please contact freud communications:
Bianca Boey
Bianca.boey@freud.com
0203 003 6394
ABOUT COWBOY FILMS:
COWBOY FILMS is an independent production with credits including Kevin Macdonald’s
The Last King of Scotland, which won an Oscar for Best Actor and a BAFTA for Best
British Film; the recent documentary Marley about the life, music and legacy of the Bob
Marley and Fire in Babylon, the Grierson award winning documentary about the great West
Indies cricket team of the 1970s/80s. Television productions include Top Boy, the RTS
award winning four-part drama for Channel 4 and Poppy Shakespeare, which won the
BAFTA for Best Actress.
ABOUT PASSION PICTURES:
Passion Pictures – headed by Andrew Ruhemann and John Battsek - is one of the most
prolific and eclectic independent production companies in the UK. An Academy Award
Winner for both its animation and feature documentary work, the company has secured a
reputation for working with a line-up of international talent. Starting with Oscar winning ONE
DAY IN SEPTEMBER in 1999, Passion Pictures has since been responsible for over twenty
feature documentaries, many of which have achieved international distribution. These
include IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (Audience Award Winner, 2007 Sundance Film
Festival); SERGIO (Based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power,
Academy Award shortlisted 2010); Academy Award nominated RESTREPO; FIRE IN
BABYLON (Grierson Trust Winner); THE TILLMAN STORY (Academy Award Shortlisted,
2011); BETTER THIS WORLD (Gotham Awards, Best Feature Documentary, 2011) and
PROJECT NIM (Academy Award Shortlisted, 2012). Passion launched two new films at
Sundance Film Festival 2012: THE IMPOSTER, Bart Layton’s first feature documentary
based on the extraordinary story of serial imposter Frederic Bourdin, and Malik Bendjelloul’s
directorial debut SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN which opened Sundance Film Festival
2012 and went on to win the Special Jury Award and the Audience Award. Both films were
acquired for U.S, U.K. and international theatrical distribution and will be released this
summer.
ABOUT FILM4:
Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops
and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK,
whether new or established. Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most
successful UK films of recent years, films like Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and 127
Hours, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Steve McQueen’s Hunger and Shame, Mike Leigh’s
Another Year, Chris Morris’ Four Lions , Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, Joe Cornish’s
directorial debut Attack The Block , Lone Scherfig’s One Day, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, and
Paddy Considine’s debut feature Tyrannosaur.
Recent releases include, Ben Palmer’s The Inbetweeners Movie, Andrea Arnold’s
Wuthering Heights, Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, Carol Morley’s Dreams of a Life,
Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, Steve McQueen’s Shame and Pawel Pawlikowski’s The
Woman In The Fifth.
Forthcoming releases include Bart Layton’s The Imposter, Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s
Guide to Ideology, Walter Salles’ On The Road, Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio,
Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Ben Wheatley’s
Sightseers, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Danny Boyle’s Trance and Michael
Winterbottom’s King of Soho.
In 2011 Film4 launched its pioneering role in exploring innovation in filmmaking with the
appointment of Anna Higgs as Head of Film4.0. Film4.0 is a talent and idea driven hub
within Film4 that will work with emerging and established talent, supporting them to tell
unique stories and connect with audiences in new ways.
For further information visit www.film4.com/productions
ABOUT BFI FILM FUND:
The BFI Film Fund champions creative excellence and boldness of vision, supporting
filmmakers at every step of their journey to create distinctive and entertaining films.
Four films backed through the BFI Film Fund premiered In Selection at the 2012 Cannes
Film Festival, with two picking up prestigious awards:
Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share, screened In Competition and won the Jury Prize
Rufus Norris’ Broken, opened the Critics’ Week
Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, screened in the Directors’ Fortnight
Fyzal Boulifa’s short The Curse, screened in the Directors’ Fortnight and won the Illy Prize
for Best Short Film
Films supported by the BFI Film Fund and currently in production include:
Steve Dwoskin’s Age Is..., Nick Murphy’s Blood, Neil Jordan’s Byzantium, Richard
Ayoade’s The Double, Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible
Woman, Omid Nooshin’s Last Passenger, Julien Temple’s LONDON – The Modern
Babylon, Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology, Martin McDonagh’s Seven
Psychopaths, Scott Graham’s Shell, Mat Whitecross’ Spike Island, Ken Loach’s Spirit of
’45, Andrew Kötting’s Swandown, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Eran Creevy’s
Welcome To The Punch.
By working with a range of ambitious and innovative filmmakers, the BFI Film Fund has built
an impressive and diverse portfolio of projects, including Tom Hooper’s Academy Award®
winning The King’s Speech; Phyllida Lloyd's Academy Award® winning The Iron Lady;
James Watkins’ box office hit The Woman in Black; Steve McQueen's BAFTA nominated
Shame; Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin; Carol Morley’s Dreams of a Life;
Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights; and Paddy Considine’s BAFTA award-winning
Tyrannosaur.
The BFI is the lead body for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing
film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:
 Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema
 Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for
 today and future generations
 Investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work
 Promoting British film and talent to the world
 Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences
www.bfi.org.uk
ABOUT MOMENTUM PICTURES AND ALLIANCE FILMS:
Alliance Films, Inc. is one of the top five international independent filmed entertainment
companies in the world. A leading multinational distributor, co-financier and producer of
filmed entertainment, its member companies, Alliance Films and Alliance VivaFilm
(Canada); Momentum Pictures (UK) and Aurum Productions (Spain), offer integrated
delivery of content in all media.
Strategic partnerships includes exclusive distribution rights with Relativity Media in Canada
and UK, Focus Features, The Weinstein Company, CBS Films and Newmarket Films in
Canada, as well as ongoing relationships with Summit, FilmNation, Newmarket, Exclusive
Media, IM Global, Mandate, Wild Bunch, Constantin Films, EuropaCorp and Nu Image in all
3 territories.
On the production front, strategic partnerships include: a feature film co-production and
acquisitions deal with Italy’s Medusa Film; a first-look deal with Iain Canning and Emile
Sherman’s See-Saw Films, which yielded the critically acclaimed THE KING'S SPEECH and
SHAME by Steve McQueen; the production joint venture with IM Global, Automatik run by
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones which is responsible for the upcoming WELCOME TO THE
PUNCH; and a five-picture deal with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY producers Oren Peli, Jason
Blum and Steven Schneider with titles that include the recent James Wan release
INSIDIOUS and upcoming SINISTER.
For further information on Momentum Pictures and Alliance Films:
Mark Jones, Momentum Pictures
Tel: 020 7534 0400
Email: mark.jones@momentumpictures.co.uk