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Rank Film (origin) Distributor June 27-29 Total Week 1 F1 (US)

Warner Bros £4.9m £7.1m 1 2 28 Years Later (US-uk)

Sony £2.4m £9.7m 2 3 How To Train Your Dragon (US)

Universal £2m £15.9m 3 4 Elio (US) Disney £766,000 £2.1m 2 5 Lilo & Stitch (US)

Disney £539,000 £35.1m 6

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.37

Warner Bros’ F1 is the weekend’s biggest success, speeding to the UK-Ireland box office top spot with £4.9m from 710 locations.

This gives it a site average of £6,901. Including previews, its UK-Ireland total is £7.1m.

Joseph Kosinski’s racing drama sees Brad Pitt play a reluctant mentor to a rookie young driver played by Damson Idris. Javier Bardem,...

"Do you have a sample for me?" Verve Pictures in the UK has debuted an official trailer for an indie film titled Chicken Town, the latest from British filmmaker Richard Bracewell. It's set for release in the UK first this June, and should alos be out in the US later this year. Two schoolfriends in a dead-end town in the East of England join forces with a green-fingered grandad to fence a shed of weed the old man accidentally grew on his allotment. Together they form an alliance of age & youth, an unlikely partnership between the forgetful and the forgotten. Bracewell describes the indie film is "a story about the contradictions of modern family life; a film with both a heart and a conscience. If Greta Gerwig and Shane Meadows had a love-child we hope it might resemble Chicken Town." Ha. That sounds like good fun. The film stars Ethaniel Davy & Amelie Davies,...

UK distributor Verve Pictures has picked up a trio of titles for theatrical release, including BFI Flare world premiere A Night Like This.

Two men cross paths one night and join forces in a quest around London to find a meaning to their miserable lives, to find their connection takes a deeper turn. Liam Calvert directs A Night Like This, which is written and produced by Diego Sceratti, and co-produced by Reece Cargan and James Heath, of Scottish production company Randan. Alexander Lincoln, Jack Brett Anderson and David Bradley star.

Also joining Verve’s slate is Sheffield Doc Fest title Where Dragons Live,...

Laurence Rickard stars in Chicken Town, from the director of Bill. Here are some first images, and a few more details…

From the director of the terrific British family feature Bill comes a new comedy heading our way later this year.

The film goes by the name of Chicken Town, and we’ve got an exclusive selection of first images (photography by Jessica Sansom), and details of the film as well.

Plus, we can confirm that Chicken Town has a UK cinema release on the way this summer.

The film tells the story of two schoolfriends (Ethaniel Davy and Amelie Pyecroft Davies) who join forces with a green-fingered grandad (Graham Fellows) to fence a shed of weed that the old man has accidentally grown on his allotment.

Laurence Rickard (Ghosts) then joins the fun, playing a conspiracy-theorist mechanic who tries to warn the unlikely trio against taking on the criminal family who control the town.

The BFI London Film Festival is set to unveil a diverse slate of promising U.K. features at its fifth annual Works-in-Progress Showcase, offering a glimpse into the future of British cinema.

Nine projects, ranging from gritty documentaries to offbeat comedies, will be presented to industry professionals on Oct. 12 at London’s Picturehouse Central. The lineup includes “Be of Good Behaviour” from directors Giulio Gobbetti and Jan Stöckel, following two ex-prisoners navigating life after incarceration. Richard Bracewell’s “Chicken Town” tells the story of a young man’s return to his hometown after serving time for a crime he didn’t commit.

Sarah Elizabeth Drummond’s documentary “Don’t Say Gay” explores the impact of homophobic law Section 28 in 1980s Britain, while Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s “Dreamers” presents a love story set in a removal center. Felipe Bustos Sierra’s “Everybody to Kenmure Street” documents a community’s response to an immigration raid in Glasgow.

Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s Dreamers and Brian Durnin’s Spilt Milk are among the nine feature films and documentaries taking part in the fourth edition of the BFI London Film Festival works-in-progress showcase.

Dreamers is the directorial debut of Gharoro-Akpojoto, producer of Blue Story and Boxing Day and is in post-production. Ronkę Adékoluęjo stars in the love story set in a detention centre, produced by Emily Morgan’s Quiddity Films, with backing from BBC Film and the BFI. The Yellow Affair by Newen Connect represents sales.

Spilt Milk is Dublin filmmaker Brian Durnin’s first film. It follows an 11 year-old boy...

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Should there be a 'ground zero' of knowledge for movie criticism? And what makes a critic effective at their job?

When I sat down to watch It Follows for the first time at the start of last year, I had no idea what I was getting. I'm increasingly an avoider of trailers, and try as much as possible to see films cold. It doesn't always work, but in the case of It Follows, it very much did.

As I’ve written before, the film had a very primal effect on me, in that it had me backing further and further into my seat, genuinely unnerved and more than a little scared by what was happening on screen. I hadn't felt like that watching a film for a long time, and my eventual write-up reflected that. Aside from the subtexts of the movie, which I, in truth, only came to later,...

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Director Richard Bracewell chats to us about Bill, and the behind the scenes struggle to bring it to the screen.

Regular readers of Den Of Geek will well know that we're sizeable fans of the comedy Bill. It's available on DVD now, and we can't recommend it highly enough.

What wasn't so well known at the time of its release was that Bill went through a distributor change last year, which at one stage looked like it might derail a wide cinema release, and thus keep the movie away from many people's eyeballs. We thus spoke to director Richard Bracewell about the film, and the behind the scenes story of just what was going on...

Can we dig into the untold story underpinning Bill? In particular, the problems that most didn't see, about simply getting the film released? Can you take us through what happened? Because we...

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The director of Bill, Richard Bracewell, exclusively writes for us on the influence of Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

To Ni or not to Ni. That was the question. We were making a historical film comedy with a group who had found fame with a TV sketch show. There were going to be comparisons. What sort of relationship were we going to have with the godfather of historical movie comedy? Acknowledge it? Ignore it? Steal from it and run away? On the occasion of the film's fortieth birthday it seems a good moment to ask, as filmmakers: what has Monty Python And The Holy Grail ever done for us?

Monty Python And The Holy Grail was shot in 1974 on a budget of $400,000. It was enough to hire coconuts but not horses. Filming was confined almost exclusively to the Scottish estate of Doune Castle in Glen Coe.

Laurence Rickard Dec 23, 2017

Ahead of the brilliant Bill screening on BBC Two, a look at how the film itself got made...

Here's something rather exciting. Writer/actor Laurence Rickard of Horrible Histories, Yonderland and now Shakespeare comedy Bill has written a guest article for us, all about the making of the film. And here is it...

See related Why The Lost World: Jurassic Park deserves more credit

"They won't just say 'that sounds great, let's do it.'"

It was April 6th 2011 – my first day in what I shall call 'the movie business' (because I can't think of a less knobby term) – and those were the words of Tony Bracewell, producer of Bill... That afternoon we went in to see the lovely people at BBC Films, who said 'that sounds great, let's do it'. It remains the only time Tony's been wrong, so I like to remind him about it.

Exclusive: Immensely talented Yonderland writer and actor Laurence Rickard walks us through the making of Shakespeare comedy Bill.

Here's something rather exciting. Writer/actor Laurence Rickard of Horrible Histories, Yonderland and now Shakespeare comedy Bill has written a guest article for us, all about the making of the film. And here is it...

"They won't just say 'that sounds great, let's do it.'"

It was April 6th 2011 – my first day in what I shall call 'the movie business' (because I can't think of a less knobby term) – and those were the words of Tony Bracewell, producer of Bill... That afternoon we went in to see the lovely people at BBC Films, who said 'that sounds great, let's do it'. It remains the only time Tony's been wrong, so I like to remind him about it. A Lot.

Of course, his note of caution was utterly justified. As I've since learnt,...

Shakespeare comedy, featuring the stars of Horrible Histories, set to be released in September.

Vertigo Releasing has taken over the release of BBC Films comedy Bill following Koch Media’s decision to withdraw from theatrical in the UK.

Vertigo said it would release Bill, centred around the ‘lost years’ of William Shakespeare, across the UK on September 18.

Speaking to ScreenDaily, Vertigo Releasing co-owner Rupert Preston said: “We began speaking to Koch about Bill at Cannes [in May] and the deal has evolved over the last couple of months.

“The deal was finalised in the last week and we have settled on a release date that everyone is happy with.

“The film is really good fun and plays well with both adults and kids. It’s clever, bright and great British entertainment.”

Koch boarded the comedy before shooting began in February 2014, and announced a release date of February 20, 2015.

But its release was pushed back and Koch announced in June that...

March 6

Chappie

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, Dev Patel

Running time: Tbc

Certificate: Tbc

Kill the Messenger

Director: Michael Cuesta

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Robert Patrick

Running time: 112 mins

Certificate: 15

Still Alice

Director: Wash Westmoreland, Richard Glatzer

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Julianne Moore

Running time: 101 mins

Certificate: 12A

Unfinished Business

Director: Ken Scott

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Dave Franco

Running time: Tbc

Certificate: Tbc

White Bird in a Blizzard

Director: Gregg Araki

Starring: Eva Green, Shailene Woodley

Running time: 91 mins

Certificate: 15

March 13

Far from the Madding Crowd

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts

Running time: Tbc

Certificate: Tbc

Run All Night

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring: Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman

Running time: Tbc

Certificate: Tbc

Suite Française

Director: Saul Dibb

Starring: Margot Robbie, Michelle Williams

Running time: 107 mins

Certificate: 15

Top Five

Director: Chris Rock

Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson

Running time: 102 mins

Certificate: 15

March 20

Insurgent

Director: Robert Schwentke

Starring: Shailene Woodley,...

UK cinema in 2015 has plenty to recommend it. Here are 36 UK films of all genres to look forward to this year…

Dig past the litterfall of Kray Brothers biopics and tales of nubile teens on camping trips gone wrong, and you’ll unearth plenty for the UK film industry to boast about in 2015. From sci-fi romps and thrillers like Robot Overlords and Ex Machina to dramas like High-Rise, comedies like War On Everyone, spy flicks like Spectre and kids’ films like Bill, there’s no shortage of inventive, highly promising cinema coming from these isles.

We’ve included a few choice co-productions in 2015’s pick of the year’s most interesting-looking pictures, which bolsters our list in both size and breadth (and mostly means we Brits can claim partial credit for ace-sounding dystopian flick The Lobster).

In alphabetical order then, here are the 36 UK (or UK-ish) movies we’re excited about seeing this year…...

The first trailer for Bill, the William Shakespeare comedy from the award-winning cast of BBC's Horrible Histories, has been released exclusively through Digital Spy.

The BBC Films and Koch Media production centres on what really happened during Shakespeare's 'Lost Years' - how hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dreams in London.

The film will see "murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth".

Horrible Histories and Yonderland cast members Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond star in the film, playing 40 roles between them.

Bill is directed by Richard Bracewell and written by Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond.

The comedy will open in UK cinemas on March 27, 2015.

The first trailer for Bill, the William Shakespeare comedy from the award-winning cast of BBC's Horrible Histories, has been released exclusively through Digital Spy.

The BBC Films and Koch Media production centres on what really happened during Shakespeare's 'Lost Years' - how hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dreams in London.

The film will see "murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth".

Horrible Histories and Yonderland cast members Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond star in the film, playing 40 roles between them.

Bill is directed by Richard Bracewell and written by Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond.

The comedy will open in UK cinemas on March 27, 2015.

The first image from the Alan Bennett adaptation has been unveiled as well as the release date.

Sony Pictures has released the first official image from TriStar and BBC Films feature The Lady In The Van showing Dame Maggie Smith in character as the eccentric Miss Shepherd.

The big screen adaptation of writer Alan Bennett’s iconic memoir is directed by long-standing Bennett collaborator Nicholas Hytner.

The film tells the true story of the relationship between Bennett and Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years.

Sony Pictures has also announced that the film will release in cinemas across the UK on Nov 13, 2015.

The first official picture shows Dame Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, Harry Potter), on location in London alongside co-star Alex Jennings (The Queen), who plays Bennett.

The movie is being filmed on the very street, and in the...

Next year’s full to bursting with potentially brilliant geek films, so to help, here’s our pick of 25 must-see movies out in 2015…

Compiling a list of next year's most exciting films is extremely difficult. What do you put in? What do you leave out? Those are some of the questions we've had to ask ourselves as we drew up the long-list of our most anticipated films of 2015. In an attempt to limit the number of sequels which can fill up a list such as this, we've left out something like Fast & Furious 7, even though we're fairly sure it'll be a lot of fun. With but two significant exceptions, we've excluded some of the films we were looking forward to this year that have been delayed until the next, such as Kingsman: The Secret Service and Frankenstein.

What we're left with, we hope, is a fairly broad selection of action and comedy,...

First image released from the period comedy, featuring the stars of Horrible Histories.

Koch Media is to release period comedy Bill in cinemas across the UK on Feb 20, 2015.

Directed by Richard Bracewell (The Gigolos), the film the story of what really happened during Shakespeare’s ‘Lost Years’ and how “hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dream”.

Announcing the release, Koch described the feature as “a tale of murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth.”

Bill stars the BAFTA award-winning cast of BBC TV’s Horrible Histories and Sky One’s Yonderland - Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond – who together play 40 roles in the film.

The script is written by Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond, and developed through BBC Films and Punk Cinema. The film is produced by Charles Steel, Alasdair Flind and [link...

Brought to us by the people behind Horrible Histories and Yonderland, BBC Films’ Bill is a history of William Shakespeare that may not be exactly like the tales we’ve been told to date. The film is currently shooting in London, West Sussex and, as in this first picture, in York Minster, White Rose country. Left to right are Laurence Rickard as Lope, Simon Farnaby as Juan, Mathew Baynton as Bill Shakespeare himself, Martha Howe-Douglas as Anne, Ben Willbond as King Philip II of Spain and Jim Howick as Gabriel.Bill co-stars and Horrible Histories writers Rickard and Willbond have penned a script that will feature a heady mix of royster-doystering, ruffs and royal scheming.Runs the synopsis: “Bill tells the story of what really happened during Shakespeare's ‘Lost Years’ - how hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dream. It’s a tale of murderous kings,...

Exclusive: February shoot for comedy which Koch will distribute in multiple European markets.

Partners are gathering around Shakespeare comedy Bill ahead of the film’s start of shoot on Feb 10 on location in Yorkshire and London.

Independent has boarded international sales ahead of the Efm while Koch Media, which has been aboard for some time, has committed to distribution in UK, Germany and Scandinavia.

The Cowboy Films/Punk Cinema production will tell the story of “what really happened” during Shakespeare’s ‘lost years’ - how the hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare left his family and home to follow his dream. Along the way he encounters murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth.

The film will star the BAFTA-winning lead cast of BBC TV’s Horrible Histories and Sky One’s Yonderland - Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond – who together will play 40 roles in the...

Family film from exec producer Ridley Scott and a feature from the team behind Horrible Histories both set to shoot early 2014.

Scott Free production Get Santa and Cowboy Films’ Bill have each secured £1m in production support from the BFI Film Fund this month.

Writer-director Chris Smith’s Get Santa, produced by Liza Marshall for Scott Free London, also received £35,000 in development backing earlier this month.

Jim Broadbent and Rafe Spall will star in the story of a father and son, who must team-up to save Christmas after they discover Santa Claus sleeping in their garage after crashing his sleigh and finding himself on the run from the police.

The production, on course for an early 2014 shoot, recently carried out an open casting call for the son role. Additional casting is due to be announced imminently.

Altitude handles sales. Ridley Scott is executive producer.

Family comedy Bill is a Cowboy Films / Punk Cinema production for BBC Films, which...

Never ones to let a popular franchise or creative team go untapped these days, the Beeb’s film division is backing a movie from the Horrible Histories bods. Their target for the big screen? One Bill.I.am Shakespeare, Esq. Okay, William.Richard Bracewell is set to direct from Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond's script, which delves into the origin story of Shakespeare. Or at least, their interpretation of it…Bill, as it will be called, tells the story of how hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dream. It’s a tale of murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth. Can one man prove the quill is mightier than the sword? “It’s a comedy adventure for all the family,” the writers say in a statement. “We're playing with history, just as Shakespeare did, for the entertainment of the audience.

BBC Films has announced plans to make a Horrible Histories feature.

The big screen version of the BAFTA-winning kids' show will be titled Bill and centre around a young William Shakespeare.

Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond penned the script for the movie, which will see lute player Bill Shakespeare leave his family and home to follow his dream of becoming a playwright. The film will see "murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth".

Horrible Histories's six lead cast members Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond will return for the Richard Bracewell-directed film, which shoots later this year.

Screenwriters Rickard and Willbond said: "Bill is a comedy adventure for all the family. We're playing with history, just as Shakespeare did, for the entertainment of the audience. And we like to think he'd be okay with it.

BBC Films has announced plans to make a Horrible Histories feature.

The big screen version of the BAFTA-winning kids' show will be titled Bill and centre around a young William Shakespeare.

Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond penned the script for the movie, which will see lute player Bill Shakespeare leave his family and home to follow his dream of becoming a playwright. The film will see "murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth".

Horrible Histories's six lead cast members Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond will return for the Richard Bracewell-directed film, which shoots later this year.

Screenwriters Rickard and Willbond said: "Bill is a comedy adventure for all the family. We're playing with history, just as Shakespeare did, for the entertainment of the audience. And we like to think he'd be okay with it.

Anna Massey, a Tony nominee who played supporting roles in more than 40 movies, died of cancer on Sunday, July 3, in London. Massey was 73. The daughter of Academy Award nominee Raymond Massey (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) and sister of another Oscar nominee, Daniel Massey (Star!), Anna Massey began her acting career in the late '50s. She was nominated for a Tony for her performance in The Reluctant Debutante (1958), which was made into a movie that same year. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the movie version starred Sandra Dee as an Americanized version of the role Massey had originated in the West End and on Broadway. Massey's first film appearance also took place in 1958, in John Ford's crime drama Gideon's Day, starring Jack Hawkins. Other notable film roles, invariably supporting bigger names, include those in Michael Powell's controversial Peeping Tom (photo, 1960), with Karl Böhm as a fetishistic serial killer; Otto Preminger...

Polly (Laura Fraser) works with Professor Julian Greengrass (Richard E Grant) in a generic “science lab”, running tests on something to do with heart disease. When she is not there, she is holed up in her dark apartment where she starts to hear voices. Professor Greengrass is infatuated with her, her boyfriend Chapman (Adam Fenton) keeps wandering off and her sister Jimi (Antonia Bernath) won’t leave her alone. She is concerned that she is losing her hold on reality. We are concerned that we might not reach the end of the film still awake.

*****

Although it may have felt like something of a coup for writer/director Richard Bracewell to have bagged Richard E Grant for his sophomore effort, the reality is that Grant’s best years and work are long behind him. The recognition factor of his name may have helped attract funding for the film’s production and distribution,...

Richard E. Grant stars in Cuckoo (2010), a dull, one-note psychological thriller from Richard Bracewell, whose marginally superior debut The Gigolos (2006) was a similarly throwaway medley of over-obvious stylistic debt and self conscious construction.

Cuckoo concerns the supposed mental disintegration of Polly (Laura Fraser), a talented student under Grant’s leery Professor Greengrass. Landing an important job interview that will allow her to escape her constricting station in life, Polly begins to hear ghostly noises echoing through her cavernous flat as she prepares for a new life - those closest to her, however, have different plans.

Richard Bracewell’s film is a decidedly televisual affair, displaying the same po-faced shallowness that one would associate with a daytime soap. The actors stand, grimace, fumble to reach their markers with the naturalism of a cardboard cut out and then grimace some more. While this may seem a harsh evaluation of the performers, it...

This month has been one of the best that I can remember for trailers. All the studios were desperate for their trailer to get released before the Christmas holidays and we were inundated with posts. Since I love trailers so much, the inundation was most welcome. In what I am considering making a monthly post, here’s a roundup of all the trailers so far for December which I have embedded below for your viewing pleasure!

I’ve embedded them in the order in which they were released start December 1st to 31st and if I miss any, please let me know and I’ll update the post.

I really want this to be intereactive so make sure you tell us which trailers you liked the best and which you think will be great or terrible movies from what you’ve seen! So, let’s go!

—————–

Title: Cuckoo

Cast: Richard E. Grant,...

With British drama Cuckoo out now in cinemas, we caught up with its producer and writer-director, Tony and Richard Bracewell, to chat about it…

Brothers Tony and Richard Bracewell area formidable team. Richard, with his background in TV work, is the writer-director, while ex-pr man Tony has the production firmly under control. Together, they produced the cult movie The Gigolos, their first feature from 2006. Cuckoo is an atmospheric psychological thriller with riveting performances by Laura Fraser and Richard E. Grant.

We caught up with Tony and Richard to talk about the making of the latest film, marketing, and working with Richard E. Grant...

Your film has been ready for some time, but it has only just come out. I watched it for the first time a few months ago – why did you start showing it so early on?

Tony: It’s all about finding the right slot for the film to come out.

Tron: Legacy (PG)

(Joseph Kosinski, 2010, Us) Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde. 125 mins

Less a brand-new vision of the future than an upgrade of the old one, this reboot delivers digital thrills beyond your wildest electric dreams, but ties itself in knots with an analogue-era plot. There's sleek, sexy design, gladiatorial arcade game action and Daft Punk-scored retro styling, but questions pile up as Hedlund seeks to rescue his long-lost Zen-spouting dad (old Jeff Bridges) from Tron-world and its evil techno-führer (young Jeff Bridges).

Burlesque (12A)

(Steve Antin, 2010, Us) Christina Aguilera, Cher, Cam Gigandet. 119 mins

A rags-to-riches showbiz fable that makes Mariah Carey's Glitter look self-effacing and Showgirls avant garde. The mask of Cher presides over a bitchy La club where Aguilera's talent for warbling while modelling frilly lingerie eventually shines through.

Catfish (12A)

(Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, 2010, Us) 84 mins

The perils of social media are spelt...

In which we wondered if the Brits are actually coming, after all, but the BFI took a funding cut

The big story

Long live the geeks! Whether they be stuttering monarchs or slightly sociopathic software whizz-kids, it was all about the nerd at this year's Golden Globes nominations. The Social Network, David Fincher's Facebook drama, which has been hoovering up the majority of the awards so far, picked up six nominations, as did Mark Whalberg sweat-fest The Fighter, while our own The King's Speech, about the late monarch's sessions with an Aussie speech therapist, pipped them both with seven. A slight, nice, shock, though even patriotism can't dampen Peter Bradshaw's scepticism over the result. More surprises: nothing for True Grit; two in the same category for Johnny Depp.

In the news

• Winona Ryder: Mel Gibson called me an 'oven dodger'

• White supremacists urge Thor boycott over casting...

Richard Bracewell, the writer and director of Cuckoo, describes his experiences of working with the legendary Withnail & I actor, Richard E Grant…

Few living actors are accorded the epithet "legend". Even fewer deserve it. Richard E. Grant does both.

Spike Milligan joked that his tombstone epitaph would read, "Wrote Goon Show. Died". Grant might once have feared the same, "Played Withnail. Died".

But Grant didn't let Withnail bury him. He rolled away the stone. With cut-glass accent and razor-sharp timing he's carved a granite CV with the names of Coppola, Altman, Campion, Bracewell...

Hang on! Bracewell?

My second feature film, Cuckoo. I was directing Richard E. Grant from my own script. The weight of the granite CV suddenly felt very heavy around my neck. Whatever else happens - I reminded myself as he arrived for his first day on set - don't ask for an autograph.

Bruce Robinson prepared Grant...

This week Jason Solomons delves into the complex world of social networking when he meets Nev Schulman, the subject of Catfish, a documentary that traces the Facebook romance between New Yorker Nev and Megan from rural Michigan. As their relationship deepens and Nev heads out on a misson to meet his sweetheart it transpires that reality is in this instance much stranger then fiction.

Continuing in this eerie vein, Jason meets British director Richard Bracewell whose thriller Cuckoo follows the story of medical student Polly, who fears for her sanity. The lead is played by Laura Fraser but there are also great central performances from Richard E Grant and Tamsin Greig.

Xan Brooks is on hand to review some of this week's other releases including Tron: Legacy, starring Jeff Bridges young and old; Cher and Christina Aguilera high-kicking their way through Burlesque; Italian drama Loose Cannons and two classic re-issues:...

Doralba reviews the British drama, Cuckoo, and finds a brooding, paranoid movie, with a particularly creepy performance by Richard E Grant...

Writer/director Richard Bracewell has put together a little gem of a movie here, a disturbing little thriller which will keep you engrossed for its duration and get you to do a lot of thinking about it afterwards.

This is independent British cinema at its best, a thought-provoking feature where there are no clear demarcations of either guilt or reality and the atmosphere is rarefied and eerie, unsettling without being scary.

Helped by well-scripted dialogue, Laura Fraser (a hot property at the moment, you can also see her in the BBC3 drama Lip Service) gives a beautifully controlled if a tad neurotic performance, which always keeps you guessing as to whether her character Polly is losing her mind or not.

The support cast delivers great and subdued acting. Richard E Grant...

Verve Pictures and Punk Cinema have just sent us the brand new trailer and poster for their new movie, Cuckoo which is directed by Richard Bracewell and stars Richard E. Grant, Laura Fraser, Tamsin Greig and award winning jungle/drum & bass artist Adam Fenton.

We’ve not been given a full synopsis but just given a description that the movie is a ‘creepy thriller’. Check out the poster (which you can click to enlarge) and trailer below.

Cuckoo is set for release 17th December 2011.

Cuckoo made some film festival showing in 2009, after the film was completed. Now in 2010, the film will go theatrical in the United Kingdom. The movie clip below shows a young woman (Laura Fraser) descent into madness, due to her hyper-sensitivity to ambivalent noises and sounds. Have a look at the trailer below from Verve Picures, courtesy of Film-Book.com

The synopsis for Cuckoo is here:

"Polly is desperate to get out of her dead-end life. But when she has the chance to escape, her nearest and dearest have other ideas.

Alone in her flat, sounds torment her. Voices in the darkness. Whispers of deceit. She knows she's not cuckoo, but why won't the noises go away?" (Cuckoo).

Release Date: December 17th (UK Only).

Director/writer: Richard Bracewell.

Cast: Laura Fraser, Richard E. Grant, Antonia Bernath, Adam F., and Tamsin Greig.

The film's trailer is here:

More details on this picture...

LONDON -- U.K. production banner Punk Cinema, founded and run by director Richard Bracewell and producer Tony Bracewell, has lined up Richard E. Grant, Laura Fraser and Tamsin Greig for Richard Bracewell's second movie outing, "Cuckoo".

The movie, billed as a thriller about lies, jealousy and betrayal, is set in London and centers on a disgruntled female medical researcher with a rock star boyfriend. She starts hearing noises at night and toys with the idea she might be losing her mind.

Fraser will play lead character Polly while Grant stars as Polly's boss. Other cast includes Adam Fenton and Antonia Bernath.

Punk Cinema burst onto the production scene here with its underground cult hit "The Gigolos", which premiered at AFI Fest 2005 in Los Angeles.

Tony and Richard Bracewell will produce "Cuckoo", which is scheduled to begin shooting in December on location in London and Norfolk.

Richard Bracewell said that he wrote the screenplay while renting a small flat in south London with his heavily pregnant partner, which fueled the script idea.

LONDON -- British indie micro distributor Word of Mouth Films said Wednesday it has struck a pair of U.K. movie distribution deals headlined by Richard Bracewell's The Gigolos, which unspooled at the AFI festival last year. WOMF said it plans to roll out the indie film in September. Set in the London between dusk and dawn, it revolves around two male escorts who specialize in dating older, rich and influential women (HR 11/2/05). The fledgling theatrical distributor said it aims to support first-time feature directors and innovative British films. It also plans to release documentary KZ from director Rex Bloomstein. The film explores the lasting impact of the Holocaust by looking at life today in a former concentration camp in Austria. Bloomstein's documentary premiered at IDFA last year and had its North American premiere in competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival.