British stars Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan, last seen on screen together in Mike Leigh’s acclaimed 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, have reunited for Hurricane Film’s The Last Bus.
Directed by Gillies MacKinnon (Hideous Kinky) and produced by Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter (A Prayer Before Dawn, A Quiet Passion), the film — now in production — was written by Joe Ainsworth (Holby City), and centers on widower Tom (Spall). When his wife Mary (Logan) passes away, he uses his free bus pass to travel the length of Britain, from John O’Groats in Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall, their shared birthplace, using only local buses. It’s an incident-fueled nostalgia trip and his encounters with local people make him a media phenomenon. Tom is totally unaware and, to his surprise, on arrival at Land’s End he’s greeted as a celebrity.
Spall, who was Oscar-nominated and a Cannes best actor winner for Mr. Turner, is currently appearing in Mrs. Lowry & Son, while Logan can be seen in the Downton Abbey movie. She’ll next appear in Misbehaviour with Keira Knightley.
Celsius Entertainment, which is overseeing sales on the The Last Bus, has also announced a number of pre-sales, including Australia/NZ (Roadshow), Spain (DeA Planeta), UK/Eire (Parkland Entertainment), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Japan (L.D.H), Greece/Cyprus (Odeon), Airlines (Jaguar), Canada (MK2 Mile End) and Gravel Road (South Africa).
The Last Bus is presented by Head Gear Films, Metrol Technology, Kreo Films, Quickfire and Creative Scotland, in co-production with Magnetic Productions, in association with Celsius Entertainment and LipSync Productions.
Executive producers are Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, James Atherton, Jan Pace, Thierry Wase-Bailey, Henriette Wollmann, Jennifer Armitage, Norman Merry, Peter Hampden and Spall.
