Cannes Film Festival isn’t expected to get underway until early next week, when Woody Allen’s Cafe Society will jump-start the annual celebration of all things film, but casting news is already beginning to surface online ahead of the event.
Deadline has one of the first scoops, revealing that Game of Thrones and The Martian actor Sean Bean is in contention to board Dark River, the British indie drama in the works from Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant). Opening negotiations with Flim4 and Left Bank Pictures, it’s understood that Mark Stanley is also circling a part in the anticipated flick.
Even at such an early stage in her career, Clio Barnard has fast become one of the most exciting new talents rising through the ranks of the British film industry. In fact, Barnard’s feature-length debut The Arbor – a documentary that centered on Andrea Dunbar’s flailing playwright – released to rave reviews six years ago, ensuring the filmmaker was a shoo-in for the Best New Documentary Filmmaker at 2010’s Tribeca Film Festival.
It’s a streak that continued with The Selfish Giant, Barnard’s sophomore feature effort, and one that certainly portends some good news for fans of British indies. In its path to production, Film4, the British Film Institute, Screen Yorkshire and The Welcome Trust will all lend financial support to Dark River.
Sean Bean, meanwhile, was last seen opposite Matt Damon and Co. in The Martian and will soon feature in the voice cast for Square Enix’s CG movie, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. As for Mark Stanley, he’ll feature in espionage thriller Our Kind of Traitor later this year.
