DreamWorks Pictures To Begin Principal Photography On 1917 From Oscar® Winning Filmmaker Sam Mendes Starring Colin Firth

Starring George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, with Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch

Distributed by Entertainment One in the UK and Ireland, 1917 will be released in cinemas on 10th January 2020.

DreamWorks Pictures announced today that principal photography will commence on 1917, written and directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker, Sam Mendes, on April 1, 2019.

The film follows two young British soldiers (Captain Fantastic’s George MacKay; Game of Thrones’ Dean-Charles Chapman) on a single day at the height of World War I.

Joining MacKay and Chapman are Mark Strong (The Imitation Game, Zero Dark Thirty), Andrew Scott (Spectre, Sherlock), Richard Madden (BBC’s Bodyguard, Cinderella), Daniel Mays (Fisherman’s Friends, Rogue One), Adrian Scarborough (The Madness of King George, Christopher Robin), Jamie Parker (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Nabhaan Rizwan (Informer), Claire Duburcq, with Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, the Bridget Jones franchise) and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Doctor Strange).

Mendes, who will direct and wrote the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Penny Dreadful) produces the film with Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Away We Go)—his partner at Neal Street Productions—along with Jayne-Ann Tenggren (Spectre, the upcoming The Rhythm Section) and Callum McDougall (Mary Poppins Returns, Skyfall). Co-producing is Michael Lerman. The film will begin principal photography next week, shooting on location in England and Scotland.

The creative team helping to bring this story to the screen includes cinematographer Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049, Skyfall); production designer Dennis Gassner (Bugsy, Road to

Perdition); costume designer Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina, Darkest Hour); editor Lee Smith (Dunkirk, The Dark Knight); and composer Thomas Newman, who has created the scores for six previous Mendes films, including Skyfall, Road to Perdition and American Beauty.

The film is being produced by Neal Street Productions for DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures and will be released in the US by Universal Pictures on December 25, 2019. Universal and Amblin Partners will distribute the film internationally, with eOne distributing on behalf of Amblin in the U.K.

1917 marks a reunion for Mendes and DreamWorks Pictures. The British director made his first feature, American Beauty, under the DreamWorks label, followed by two other productions—Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road.

About DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures is a production label of Amblin Partners, a film and television production company led by Steven Spielberg, that develops and produces films using the Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media banners and includes Amblin Television, a longtime leader in quality programming. The company’s recent releases include Green Book, which won three Academy Awards® including Best Picture and has currently grossed more than $275m worldwide. The company’s investment partners include Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment, Entertainment One (eOne), Alibaba Pictures and Universal Pictures.

About Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a global independent studio that specialises in the development, acquisition, production, financing, distribution and sales of entertainment content. The Company’s diversified expertise spans across film, television and music production and sales; family programming, merchandising and licensing; digital content; and live entertainment. Through its global reach and expansive scale, powered by deep local market knowledge, the Company delivers the best content to the world.

Entertainment One’s robust network includes international feature film distribution company Sierra/Affinity; Amblin Partners with DreamWorks Studios, Participant Media, and Reliance Entertainment; Makeready with Brad Weston; unscripted television production companies Whizz Kid Entertainment and Renegade 83; live entertainment leaders Round Room Entertainment; world-class music labels Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang; and award-winning emerging content and technologystudio Secret Location.

About Neal Street Productions
Neal Street Productions is run by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Caro Newling, and Nicolas Brown and has been successfully producing award-winning film, TV and theatre for the past 15 years.

Neal Street’s diverse film and television slate includes the hugely successful Call the Midwife for the BBC, which has just begun filming its ninth series; John Logan’s Penny Dreadful and the upcoming Penny Dreadful: City of Angels for Showtime; the award-winning The Hollow Crown for the BBC; two series of Britannia for Sky/Amazon, and the contemporary thriller Informer for BBC/Amazon. Neal Street’s film projects have included Revolutionary Road for Paramount and DreamWorks, Things We Lost in the Fire for DreamWorks, and Jarhead for Universal.

In the theatre, current productions include The Lehman Trilogy which transfers to the Park Avenue Armory Theatre in New York this month, and to the West End in Spring 2019, and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, which is currently performing at the Jacobs Theatre on Broadway.

Neal Street Productions is an All3Media company, All3Media is owned jointly between Discovery Communications and Liberty Global.