Embassy seige action thriller 6 Days starts shooting in New Zealand.
6 DAYS, an action thriller directed by Toa Fraser (The Dead Lands, Dean Spanley) and produced by Matthew Metcalfe (The Dead Lands, Beyond The Edge, Dean Spanley) starts principal photography today in Auckland, New Zealand. An official New Zealand/UK co-production, the New Zealand shoot will finish late July, with shooting to continue in August in London.
Starring Jamie Bell (Fantastic Four, Jumper, HBO’s Turn), Mark Strong (The Imitation Game, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Abbie Cornish (Bright Star, Limitless), 6 DAYS is based on the actual events of April 1980 when six armed gunmen stormed the Iranian Embassy at London’s Princes Gate, taking 26 people hostage. Six days of tense stand-off ensued as a group of highly trained soldiers from Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS) prepared to raid the building.
Producer Metcalfe describes the film as “a tense action/thriller that will tell the story of one of the most audacious and incredible special forces raids of all time.” Adding that “GFC is incredibly proud to be telling this story and is thankful for all the support it has received from those who participated in the real events.”
Following the success of their acquisition of The Dead Lands, XYZ Films have partnered once more with Metcalfe’s General Film Corporation (GFC) and will take worldwide sales duties.
Fraser re-teams with The Dead Lands screenwriter Glenn Standring (The Dead Lands, Perfect Creature) and producer Matthew Metcalfe (The Dead Lands, Dean Spanley, Beyond the Edge) through his company General Film Corporation in association with XYZ Films, Lip Sync Productions, Dog With a Bone Films and the Ingenious Senior Film Fund.
6 DAYS is financed by General Film Corporation in association with the New Zealand Film Commission, Lip Sync Productions and the Ingenious Senior Film Fund. XYZ Films is executive producing and selling internationally, Icon Film Distribution has acquired UK rights and WME is co-repping North America with XYZ. Transmission Films have picked up local duties for Australia and New Zealand.
Executive producers are Gavin Poolman and Andrea Scarso representing Ingenious Senior Film Fund, Ian Dawson and Norman Humphrey of Icon and Nate Bolotin and Aram Tertzakian for XYZ Films. Lip Sync Productions’ Norman Merry is co-producer and writer Glenn Standring also takes on EP duties.
Other members of the creative team are: director of photography Aaron Morton (Evil Dead, Orphan Black), production designer Phil Ivey (Elysium, District 9), stunt co-ordinator Steve McQuillan (The Dead Lands, The Gunman, Slow West), costume designer Liz McGregor (The Light Between Oceans) and makeup and hair designer Gabrielle Jones (Mr Pip, Emperor).
GFC’s most recent Toa Fraser film, The Dead Lands, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it was acquired for the US by Magnolia’s Magnet Releasing. It was also New Zealand’s official 2015 Oscar entry in the Best Foreign Language category.
About XYZ FILMS
XYZ Films is an integrated content company whose mission is to empower visionary storytellers from every corner of the planet. As an independent production company and worldwide sales agency, the company is uniquely suited to identify talented filmmakers and bring their stories to life. XYZ was founded in 2008 by Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian.
About GENERAL FILM CORPORATION
General Film Corporation is an Auckland-based production company responsible for 12 feature films and 10 tele-features, including recent hit The Dead Lands as well as Dean Spanley, Giselle and Beyond The Edge. GFC currently has three feature films in production and two in post-production. GFC managing director Matthew Metcalfe is a former SPADA Independent Producer of the Year award winner.
About INGENIOUS SENIOR FILM FUND
Ingenious is a market-leading financial services group providing investment and advisory expertise and is the UK’s largest independent investor in the country’s creative industries. Films and television productions supported by Ingenious in the past include: The Dead Lands, Avatar, Life of Pi, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Doc Martin and Foyle’s War. Most recently, Ingenious backed The Fall (BBC 2’s most watched drama) and The Heat (starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy).
About LIP SYNC PRODUCTIONS
LipSync Productions has provided investment and equity services for over 40 independent feature films and TV productions, offering financial, creative and technical support to filmmakers and producers. In its capacity as Executive Producer/Co-producer on numerous productions, LipSync’s experienced staff are able to advise on all aspects of production, from concept to completion, ensuring the client can be completely confident that every possible penny makes it into the image onscreen. LipSync’s co-productions include The Dead Lands, Mr Turner, A Little Chaos, What We Did On Our Holiday, X+Y, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Shame.
About the NEW ZEALAND FILM COMMISSION
The New Zealand Film Commission funds the making of New Zealand films and invests in a wide range of capability programmes aimed at building skills within the wider screen industry and helping talented filmmakers connect offshore. It administers the Government's grant schemes and promotes and markets New Zealand films and the screen sector here and overseas. Recent productions include The Dead Lands, The Dark Horse, Slow West and What we do in the Shadows.
About ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION
Formed in 1999, Icon Film Distribution (IFD) is one of the UK’s leading independent film distributors generating in excess of £150m at the box office with a library of over 200 titles ranging from mainstream hits such as POSTMAN MAN, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, TRANSPORTER 3 and WHAT WOMEN WANT to specialist break-out titles such as Tom Ford’s A SINGLE MAN, LA VIE EN ROSE, MAN ON WIRE, and multiple BAFTA and Oscar® nominee Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE.
In late 2013 IFD was re-launched backed by investment company New Sparta, founded by Dr Jerome Booth. Led by CEO Ian Dawson and Chairman/COO Norman Humphrey, IFD has released several films including Jennifer Kent’s THE BABADOOK; David Robert Mitchell’s IT FOLLOWS and Noah Baumbach’s WHILE WE’RE YOUNG starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts. Upcoming releases include THE LEGEND OF BARNEY THOMSON, directed by and starring Robert Carlyle with Ray Winstone and Emma Thompson; THE TRANSPORTER REFUELLED from producer Luc Besson, Tom Tykwer’s A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING starring Tom Hanks; MILES AHEAD directed by and starring Don Cheadle and Ewan McGregor; Ben Younger’s BLEED FOR THIS starring Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart; Drake Doremus’ EQUALS, starring Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart and Shane Black’s THE NICE GUYS starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling and Kim Basinger. www.iconmovies.co.uk