FilmFour Seduced by Hollywood

An exultant Film Four press release received at the Empire Online office this morning reveals that the UK film company has secured the services of a veritable galaxy of American and Aussie stars for three upcoming films. Andie MacDowell, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire and Harvey Keitel have all signed up for films being filmed in the UK by FilmFour over the next year. While the presence of such stars should ensure both a healthy budget and an improvement in box office presence for the three UK movies, it seems the trend for bringing in foreign film stars in place of homegrown talent is still on an upward swing. While it's not confirmed that the stars will be taking on British roles, the film descriptions suggest it. Andie MacDowell will be teamed up with Imelda Staunton and Anna Chancellor in Sad Fucker's Club (working title, naturellement) - a comedy female version of Men Behaving Badly. Cate Blanchett will play a young Scottish woman in Charlotte Gray - the adaptation of Sebastian Faulk's novel and Keitel and Maguire will play the lead roles of an 18th century Thief Taker General and the jailbreaker that proves his match in Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild. “We are delighted at the level of talent that these three projects have attracted,' said Elinor Day, FilmFour’s Deputy Head of Production. 'These productions illustration our determination to make significant films...that are aimed at as wide an international audience as possible.'