Elysian Announce Rebecca Ferguson Will Join Andrew Garfield And Claire Foy In Fantasy Adventure Film THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE

Neal Street Productions, Elysian Film Group and Ashland Hill Media Finance are thrilled to unveil the final casting announcement for their upcoming film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s beloved children's classic, The Magic Faraway Tree.  Rebecca Ferguson (Dune, Mission Impossible, Silo, The Greatest Showman) has joined the cast in the role of DAME SNAP

Ferguson will play the story’s terrifying headmistress, one of Blyton’s most iconic villains.

Production are ecstatic to welcome Ferguson to the cast, with director Ben Gregor commenting “Rebecca is a towering screen presence, one of the finest actors of her generation, and will be an electrifying addition to our movie.”

Ferguson’s casting in The Magic Faraway Tree adds to her impressive, ever-growing cinematic slate. In 2024 Ferguson is shooting 4 feature films including the Peaky Blinders movie opposite Cillian Murphy, Mercy opposite Chris Pratt, and Kathryn Bigelow’s next feature film. Season 2 of her Apple series, Silo, in which she stars and produces, will release on 15^th November, 2024.

Ferguson joins the cast which, as previously announced, includes two-time Academy Award-nominee, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Winner Andrew Garfield (tick, tick... BOOM!, Hacksaw Ridge) and Golden Globe and two-time Emmy Award-winner Claire Foy (All of Us Strangers, Women Talking). Ferguson is represented by Chalcot Square, CAA and Anonymous Content.

The film is produced by Academy Award-nominee Pippa Harris (Empire of Light, 1917, Call the Midwife) and Nicolas Brown (Britannia, Informer, Penny Dreadful) of Neal Street Productions, along with Danny Perkins (Greatest Days) of Elysian Film Group, and Jane Hooks (Golda, Living). Executive Producers include Ashland Hill Media Finance’s Simon Williams, Joe Simpson and Jonathan Bross and Palisades Park Pictures’ Tamara Birkemoe. Adapted by BAFTA Award-winner Simon Farnaby (Wonka, Paddington 2), the film is directed by Ben Gregor (Britannia, Cuckoo, Black Ops, Fatherhood).

Ashland Hill Media Finance is fully financing The Magic Faraway Tree. Palisades Park Pictures is handling worldwide sales, with CAA Media Finance co-repping US rights.

Rebecca Ferguson Biography
Rebecca Ferguson is an award-winning actor and producer. In 2024 she stars for director Kathryn Bigelow's in her upcoming untitled feature film. In this same year, she stars opposite Cillian Murphy in the final instalment of PEAKY BLINDERS and opposite Chris Pratt in the keenly anticipated MERCY for MGM. Other recent roles include her return as "Lady Jessica" in Denis Villenueve's acclaimed sequel, DUNE: PART TWO alongside Javier Bardem, Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet and her return as "Elsa Faust" opposite Tom Cruise in her third film within the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise. On television, Ferguson stars and executive produces across the first four seasons of Apple TV+'s breakout drama SILO, which will return for season two in November 2024. Ferguson's other credits include Michael Gracey's THE GREATEST SHOWMAN opposite Hugh Jackman, Mike Flanagan's DOCTOR SLEEP alongside Ewan McGregor, Tomas Alfredson's THE SNOWMAN alongside Michael Fassbender, and Tate Taylor's THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN alongside Emily Blunt.

About Neal Street Productions
Neal Street Productions is run by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Caro Newling, and Nicolas Brown. Neal Street has successfully produced award-winning film, TV and theatre for 20 years and is an All3Media company.

Neal Street’s film projects have included 1917, the First World War epic, directed by Sam Mendes and co-written by Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns for Amblin and Universal. The film won over 100 awards, including 2 Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director, 3 Academy Awards and 7 BAFTAs including Best Film, Best British Film and Best Director. Neal Street also produced Revolutionary Road for Paramount and DreamWorks, Things We Lost in the Fire for DreamWorks, and Jarhead for Universal. More recently, Neal Street released Empire of Light, for Searchlight Pictures, written and directed by Sam Mendes, starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, and Toby Jones.

Neal Street’s diverse television slate includes the hugely successful Call the Midwife which in 2023 was voted the best TV show of the last 25 years in a Radio Times poll. Series 14 is currently in production and will air in early 2025. Other dramas include Stuart A Life Backwards for HBO starring Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch. John Logan’s Penny Dreadful and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels for Showtime; the award-winning The Hollow Crown for the BBC; three series of Jez Butterworth’s Britannia for Sky/Epix, and the BAFTA-nominated, contemporary thriller Informer for BBC/Amazon.

Neal Street is currently in production on The Franchise, an original TV comedy series by Jon Brown for HBO. The pilot is directed by Sam Mendes. They are also making the screen adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award winning novel ‘Hamnet’ directed by Oscar winner Chloe Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

In theatre, The Hills of California, a new play written by Jez Butterworth and directed by Sam Mendes, is transferring to the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway in September 2024, following an acclaimed run in the West End earlier this year. Other productions include Jack Thorne’s The Motive and The Cue; Jez Butterworth’s Olivier and Tony award-winning The Ferryman; Hamnet, based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling book, and the Tony award-winning The Lehman Trilogy which had sell-out runs on both sides of the Atlantic, and is returning to the Gillian Lynne Theatre from September 2024 - January 2025.

About Elysian Film Group
Industry veteran Danny Perkins founded Elysian Film Group in 2018.

In early 2020, the company launched Elysian Film Group Distribution, a brand-new UK distribution arm, with backing from CAA.

The company Produced and Distributed the Take That Musical Greatest Days, directed by Coky Giedroyc and written by Tim Firth, in 2023 and launched the Mews Comedy label with Archery Pictures to be led by the Jimmy Carr-created feature, Fackham Hall in 2024.

Elysian also recently distributed The Boy and the Heron by Hayao Miyazaki in partnership with Bleecker Street and Anonymous Content. The film has grossed over £5m at the UK box office to date and won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature.

Perkins has over two decades of experience in the international film business, spanning all aspects of the industry including development, production, acquisition, marketing and distribution. He co-founded UK indie Optimum Releasing in 1999, which was acquired by the Vivendi-owned STUDIOCANAL in 2006. He then assumed the role of UK CEO for the company in 2010 and departed in 2018 to form Elysian Film Group.

He has worked with both aspiring and established filmmakers throughout his career including Ben Wheatley, Idris Elba, Rian Johnson, Paul King, Paddy Considine, James Marsh, Guillermo del Toro, Kathryn Bigelow, Marjane Satrapi, Shane Meadows, Lynne Ramsey and Chris Morris.

About Ashland Hill Media Finance
Launched in Spring 2022 by long-standing film financiers and producers Joe Simpson, Simon Williams and Jonathan Bross, Ashland Hill Media Finance is a specialist film and TV financing company with offices in Santa Monica, London and Tallinn, Estonia.  With over $220M invested across 32 deals so far, recent films the company has supported include The Magic Faraway Tree, based on the best-selling book series by beloved children’s author Enid Blyton, starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Nicola Coughlan, Jessica Gunning and Jennifer Saunders, written by BAFTA Award-winner Simon Farnaby (Wonka, Paddington 2), and directed by Ben Gregor (“Britannia,” “Black Ops,”Fatherhood); Rupert Sanders’ reimagining of The Crow, starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA twigs and recently released by Lionsgate; John Maclean’s Tornado, starring Academy Award nominee Tim Roth; The period drama Harvest, directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenburg, Chevalier), starring Caleb Landry-Jones, Harry Melling and Rosy McEwen, and set to premiere at the upcoming Venice International Film Festival (World), and the Toronto International Film Festival (North America); the horror-comedy The Scurry, directed by Craig Thomas (Eternal Beauty, The Phantom of the Open) and starring Ella Purnell, Rhys Ifans, Paapa Essiedu and Antonia Thomas; and Philip Noyce’s action thriller Fast Charlie, starring Pierce Brosnan and Academy Award nominee James Caan in his last on-screen performance.

Ashland Hill Media Finance also backs the independent entertainment company Palisades Park Pictures.  Led by CEO Tamara Birkemoe, Palisades Park Pictures is focused on the global distribution, production, and financing of high-level, quality commercial content for a worldwide audience.

Ashland Hill Media Finance is backed by an alternative investment fund with assets under management of over $3B.

About Palisades Park Pictures
Palisades Park Pictures is the independent entertainment company focused on the distribution, production, and financing of high-level, quality commercial content for a worldwide audience. Led by CEO Tamara Birkemoe, in partnership with Ashland Hill Media Finance, Palisades Park Pictures is establishing itself as a home for ambitious, exciting storytelling with a global appeal and a one-stop shop for producers and filmmakers, with a robust slate of both in-house and third-party premium content.

Current slate of films include Grendel, adapted from the critically acclaimed novel about the legendary monster at the heart of the Beowulf epic poem, and starring a multi-award winning ensemble cast including Jeff Bridges, Dave Bautista, Bryan Cranston, Sam Elliott and T Bone Burnett; The Magic Faraway Tree, based on the best-selling book series by beloved children’s author Enid Blyton, written by Simon Farnaby (Wonka, Paddington 2), directed by Ben Gregor (“Britannia,” “Black Ops,” Fatherhood); and starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Nicola Coughlan, Jessica Gunning and Jennifer Saunders; That’s Amore! starring John Travolta, Katherine Heigl and Christopher Walken, written and to be directed by two-time Academy Award winner Nick Vallelonga (Green Book); Philip Noyce’s action-adventure Fast Charlie starring Pierce Brosnan, Morena Baccarin and Academy Award nominee James Caan in his last on-screen performance; and action-thriller Duchess, directed by Neil Marshall, starring Charlotte Kirk, Colm Meaney and Sean Pertwee.  Palisades also acquired all media rights to a number of premium titles in the VIP Medienfonds Media 8 film library including Patty Jenkins’ Monster, starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron; Upside of Anger, starring Kevin Costner, Joan Allen, and Evan Rachel Wood; and Barbara Kopple’s action thriller Havoc, starring Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Channing Tatum.