When you have a film directed by Gary Oldman and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, and, in a recent casting move, Amanda Seyfried, you would think that it would have no trouble getting funding. This is apparently a falsehood, because Flying Horse has all those factors and still cannot get enough money to actually begin filming.
Oldman recently revealed to Absolutely Magazine (via The Playlist) that Flying Horse has so far been unable to secure enough funding to get the cameras rolling.
“You need someone who will actually be a risk taker. It’s set in San Francisco but you could save yourself $100k if you do three weeks in Romania and then you get a tax subsidy if you do a week in Ireland. It’s fucking eye-crossing!”
Flying Horse is to be the biopic of Eadweard Muybridge, a photographer credited with aiding in the development of motion pictures. He was also a murderer, killing a theater critic who had an affair with his wife and apparently fathered her child. Fiennes is to take on the role of Muybridge, with Cumberbatch featuring as the theater critic and Oldman playing the part of Muybridge’s attorney. Amanda Seyfried is presumably signed on to play the wife who helped cause such trouble.
Flying Horse was supposed to start shooting earlier this year, but the lack of funding has delayed it. It’s honestly a big surprise that a film with so much star power behind it cannot get off the ground. Either the script is not as good as Oldman thinks, or he’s right and there’s no one willing to take a risk on making a film with these stars that does not involve car chases.
I think it would be a serious shame if Flying Horse never gets made, particularly with a cast as spectacular as this one. The Muybridge story itself is interesting too, with equal parts art and scandal. Hopefully someone will get a clue and actually invest enough money in this film to get it going.
We will keep an eye on the developments with Flying Horse as they happen.
