Filming on Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour is now officially underway in the United Kingdom – but not before Game of Thrones star Stephen Dillane joins the cast.
Joe Wright, director of Hanna, Anna Karenina and Pan, has been appointed at the helm, directing from a script produced by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything). Eyeing a release late next year, a near unrecognizable Gary Oldman will take point as the former British Prime Minister, who found himself between a rock and a very, very hard place as Nazi Germany reached the peak of its power during World War II.
Soon after France had fallen, Darkest Hour recounts the proposed peace treaty with Nazi Germany, before Churchill dug in his heels, vowing to “go on to the end,” fighting the opposing Axis forces in France, on the beaches, on the European hills, and everywhere in between. It’s a remarkable period of history, and we can’t wait to see Oldman embody the British Bulldog on the silver screen.
“Darkest Hour is about a visionary leader who stood firm in the face of tremendous pressure to abandon his unique point of view on the world, so it is fitting that his story will be told by these visionary filmmakers.”
Following today’s confirmation, Stephen Dillane now joins a cast of top-tier British talent comprised of Ben Mendelsohn (King George VI), John Hurt (Neville Chamberlain), Kristin Scott Thomas (Clementine Churchill) and Lily James (Elizabeth Nel).
Darkest Hour will make its debut in North America come November 24, 2017, before Universal Pictures International ships Joe Wright’s wartime biopic over to UK beaches in time for December 29, 2017.
