Big screen actors to film lesbian love story in Stratford
A star-studded new film featuring RSC favourite David Tennant is set to begin production in Stratford later this month.
Written by writer and director Daisy Aitkens, ‘Fish Without Bicycles’ will star Lucy Punch and Faye Marsay alongside the Dr Who actor.
The company behind the project, Bad Penny Productions, intend to begin filming on 31 October with a four week shoot in Stratford and one week in Tewkesbury.
The plot of the comedy drama revolves around a lesbian couple over a 12 month period, who both become pregnant in very different circumstances.
One is a determined 40-year-old magistrate, who seeks IVF treatment, while the other is a wayward 20 something, who falls pregnant following a one-night stand with a neighbour played by David Tennant.
TV and film regulars Sarah Parish, Sally Phillips and Gemma Jones are also listed amongst the cast.
David Tennant’s wife Georgia is one of the producers on the film, whilst his father in law Peter Davison will also co-star.
Explaining why he took on a part in the film, David Tennant said: “Daisy Aitkens has written a brilliant, funny, surprising and moving script and I am delighted that she has asked me to be in her first feature – as she is clearly going to be making many, many more and I want to be in all of them.
“And I am very pleased to be working with Bad Penny again, a company that represents all that is good and exciting in young British filmmaking. Thanks for having me!”
Phin Glynn, a producer on the film and Shipston resident, said: “We’re a young film company and once filming is finished we’re hoping to permanently set up in Stratford. London is such an expensive place to be and we don’t need to be there.
“We all know the area well and from the beginning we always wanted this film to be set in Stratford. Stratford is a character, we didn’t want to use any old anonymous chocolate box town. We’re going to film some scenes in Bancroft Gardens and we’ve got one scene on the river, the rest of the four week shoot will happen at a number of different locations around the town.
“The bulk of the shoot will be done in November, we’ve already completed one day in September and we will probably use some movie magic to show the changing of the seasons, to reflect the time period over which the film is set.
“It’s right to say David’s involvement is a boost to the project, but I would also say it is a necessity to have him and Lucy and Faye on board. When this film is presented to the distributors it will be a guy looking at a spreadsheet who will say how much it is worth.
“Casting can be a tricky business because you need the right actors for the right project, it’s not always about just picking your favourite actors. David is married to our producer Georgia and we always hoped he could be involved but we were a bit worried about asking him.
“Daisy we came up with the hook for this film two years ago and created the script and then we all spent a year knocking it into shape. Two years is quite quick to get to this stage, a lot of films take a lot longer. Daisy’s script is great, it’s fresh and original.
“Years ago a film was classed as low budget if it cost up to £1million to make but these days that would be called as micro-budget. I won’t say how much we have to make this film, but I would class us as low budget.”
Phin said he hoped the film would receive a wide release in the UK and that it could hit cinema screens in Christmas 2017, depending on the distributors.