Simon Rumley just wrapped an under-the-radar project that moves the horror filmmaker beyond his genre confines.
Rumley, known for his films such as Red, White & Blue and his work in The ABC’s of Death, is tackling the tragic story of Donald Crowhurst, a British business man who in the late 1960s competed in an around-the-world race. The inexperienced sailor ran into trouble early on, then as his mental state began to deteriorate due to isolation, began faking reports of his positions. When it appeared he may actually win the race, he committed suicide.
Justin Salinger is portraying Crowhurst in the low-budget movie.
“Crowhurst’s story is a tale of British derring-do which goes severely wrong, and in this respect it represents the flip-side of the British Empire — a tale about adventure and exploration that was never proudly taught in history lessons,” said Rumley. “This, the bathos and tragedy of his situation, the self-imposed isolation and loneliness and the emotional peaks and troughs of the story, all fit in very well with themes that I’ve explored in my previous films.”
Among the places shot was Crowhurst’s actual home.
The story has long captivated the English film set, and one reason Rumley kept his project under that radar was the more high-profile competing project: James Marsh, the director of The Theory of Everything, is currently shooting a feature on Crowhurst that stars Colin Firth as the sailor and Rachel Weisz as his wife.
Rumley is repped by APA and Aperture.
