If you were disappointed that Terence Davies' latest, The Deep Blue Sea, didn't turn out to be a remake of the Renny Harlin subsea spectacular of (nearly) the same name, then we sympathise. Who wouldn't want to see a group of genetically-modified super sharks take time out from reflecting melancholically on the decline post-war Liverpool to bite Pete Postlethwaite in half?
Of course, we're kidding. With Still Lives, Distant Voices and The Long Day Closes to his name, Davies is one of Britain's finest auteurs. He's not exactly prolific - his last feature was The House Of Mirth in 2000 - so news that cameras began rolling today will be greeted with a fair degree of anticipation.
The Deep Blue Sea, an adaptation of Terence Rattigan's 1953 stage play, sees Rachel Weisz' beautiful socialite falling for an ex-RAF pilot Tom Hiddleston, a love deeply, and painfully, complicated by her marriage to a high court judge (Simon Russell Beale) and the muttering disapproval of polite society.
Even putting Davies and his cast's pedigree to one side, it promises much. Rattigan's plays - Separate Tables, The Browning Version and The Winslow Boy to name a few - have made for heart-wrenching cinema down the years, although there's definitely scope for Davies to improve on the uneven 1955 adaptation of The Deep Blue Sea.
This version is produced by Sean O'Connor and Kate Ogborn, the production pair behind This Is England. It shoots in an around London for the next five weeks.