Olivia Colman and Colin Firth to star in Sam Mendes film set in Worthing - Here's the full cast

With stars including Academy Award winners Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, Empire of Light will be a romance film, set in and around a 'beautiful old cinema' on the south coast of England in the 1980’s.

The film will shoot in Margate, England and along the Kent coastline through May but Worthing's Pavilion Theatre, on the seafront, was taken over by camera crews on Thursday.

It comes after Searchlight Pictures announced the start of 'principal photography' on Sam Mendes’ (1917, Skyfall, American Beauty) first solo screenplay feature film.

Also starring in the feature film are; Toby Jones, Micheal Ward, Crystal Clarke and Tanya Moodie.

Tom Brooke and Hannah Onslow join the previously announced cast.

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'Dream partnership'

The film will be produced by Academy Award nominee Pippa Harris (1917, Call The Midwife, Penny Dreadful) and Mendes under Neal Street Productions.

Sam Mendes said: "I’m really thrilled to be working with so many wonderful collaborators across both cast and crew on such a personal project.

"It’s a particular thrill to be working for the first time with Olivia Colman, and to be working once again with my long-term collaborator Roger Deakins.”

Producer Pippa Harris added: “We are delighted to be working with Searchlight on Empire of Light and couldn’t hope for better partners. They have been incredibly collaborative and supportive as we embark on this new venture together."

Searchlight presidents Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum said they are 'very excited for the road ahead'.

They added: "This is a dream partnership for us, between the singular Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, and the outstanding cast led by Olivia, Micheal, and Colin."

Tom Brooke recently starred in The Crown for Netflix, BBC/Netflix’s The Bodyguard, Preacher for AMC Networks, A24’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties and The Death of Stalin for IFC Films.

Hannah Onslow is currently starring in BBC/AMC Networks’ This Is Going to Hurt and was previously in BBC/PBS Masterpiece’s Ridley Road. Brooke is represented by B-Side Management and Management 360, and Onslow by Gordon and French.

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Filmmaking team

The filmmaking team includes Academy Award winning director of photography Roger Deakins (1917, Blade Runner 2049, Skyfall, The Shawshank Redemption).

He reunites for his fifth collaboration; Academy Award-nominated Hair and make-up designer Naomi Donne (The Batman, 1917, Skyfall); Academy Award-winning editor Lee Smith (1917, Dunkirk, Inception, The Dark Knight); Academy Award-winning sound mixer Stuart Wilson (1917, Star Wars VII – The Force Awakens, Skyfall); casting director Nina Gold (The Power of the Dog, 1917); executive producers Michael Lerman (1917, Spectre, Skyfall) and Julie Pastor (1917, Informer), and co-producer Lola Oliyide (1917, Britannia).

Joining the team are; production designer Mark Tildesley (No Time To Die, Phantom Thread, In the Heart of the Sea, 28 Days Later); costume designer, Academy Award winner Alexandra Byrne (Emma, Dr Strange, Guardians of The Galaxy, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth The Golden Age) and co-producer Celia Duval (Belfast, A Boy Called Christmas).

Empire of Light is being overseen by Searchlight Pictures’ head of film production and development, Katie Goodson-Thomas, director of development and production, Pete Spencer, and creative executive, Cornelia Burleigh.

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