Category: TV
Drama
Date: 25.09.2004
Printable version
British born actor Daniel Craig is to star in an adaptation
of Robert Harris' compelling best-seller Archangel due to be screened
on 麻豆社 ONE next year.
Adapted by award winning writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (The
Rotters' Club, Auf Weidersehen, Pet) and filmed entirely on location
in Moscow and Latvia, Archangel follows Oxford historian Fluke Kelso
(Daniel Craig) on a dangerous and thrilling race to uncover the dark
mystery behind the alleged secret diaries of Josef Stalin.
Laura Mackie, Head of 麻豆社 Drama Serials, says: "Robert Harris' Archangel
is an intelligent and compulsive thriller full of twists and turns,
which Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have adapted into a taut and compelling
screenplay taking the audience on a journey through contemporary Russia
and the secrets surrounding Stalin's death.
"Archangel is one of a number of adaptations of modern novels
for 麻豆社 ONE next year, including Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club -
adapted by Clement and La Frenais - and Sarah Waters' Fingersmith."
Set in contemporary Moscow and the frozen northern town of Archangel,
the drama revisits the stark landscape of Communist Russia and takes
place over four days in the life of Fluke Kelso.
His fateful meeting with a former Stalinist bodyguard of the NKVD (People's
Commissariat For Internal Affairs) leads to the uncovering of one of
the world's most dangerous and best kept secrets.
He is led unwittingly through murder and intrigue towards his own personal
'Holy Grail' - Josef Stalin's secret legacy - a legacy that could change
the face of Russian history forever.
Producer Christopher Hall said: "I am delighted that we are bringing
this international best-seller to the screen, headed by film star Daniel
Craig in his return to 麻豆社 Television, adapted by two of Britain's best-loved
screen writers."
Daniel Craig starred in the 麻豆社's Our Friends In The North as well
as the films Road To Perdition, The Mother, Tomb Raider, Elizabeth,
Sylvia and the soon-to-be-released Layer Cake and Enduring Love.
Robert Harris is the author of Pompeii, Enigma and Fatherland.
He was a television correspondent with the 麻豆社, political editor of
the Observer and a columnist for the Sunday Times.
His novels have sold more than six million copies and been translated
into 30 languages.
Harris' novels Enigma and Fatherland have both been made into films
- Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott, Tom Hollander and Saffron Burrows starred
in Enigma (2001) and Miranda Richardson, Michael Kitchen, Peter Vaughn
and Jean Marsh starred in Fatherland (1994).
Archangel is produced by Christopher Hall (Hound Of The Baskervilles,
The Lost World) and directed by Jon Jones (The Alan Clark Diaries, When
I'm 64).
The executive producers are Laura Mackie, Jessica Pope and Paul Telegdy.
