Antonia Campbell-Hughes Cast as Austrian Kidnap Victim Natascha Kampusch

COLOGNE, Germany – Irish actress Antonia Campbell-Hughes (Albert Nobbs) has been cast as real-life kidnapping victim Natascha Kampusch in Constantin Film’s biopic 3096.

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Campell-Hughes, whose credits also include Jane Campion’s Bright Star and Rebecca Daly’s The Other Side of Sleep, will play the Austrian girl who was snatched by Wolfgang Priklopil on her way to school and held captive in his basement for 8 and-a-half years. The title of the film refers to Kampush’s days in captivity.

The Kampusch case became a world-wide media event when the girl  escaped on August 23, 2006. Priklopil committed suicide the same day.

Danish actor Thure Lindhardt (Angels & Demons) will play Priklopil in 3096, which Sherry Hormann (Desert Flower) will direct. Amelia Pidgeon will play the young Kampusch.

“We wanted to take an outside-the-box approach,” said Hormann, explaining the casting. “Bringing an outsiderʼs point of view, Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Thure Lindhardt are perfectly suited to capture the overwhelming essence of the story: It's a universal story -- the insanity of the act lies within the act itself, no matter where it takes place.”

The Kampusch feature was the last project from famed producer Bernd Eichinger was working on before his sudden death last year. Martin Moskowicz, head of film and TV at Constantin, has taken over production duties with writer Ruth Thoma (Gloomy Sunday) completing Eichinger’s unfinished screenplay to 3096.

Oscar-nominated cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (The Departed, Gangs of New York) will lens the project with Bernd Lepel (Downfall) overseeing production design.

Principle photography on the English-language film is set to start in Munich next month. Constantin will bow 3096 theatrically next year.