EXCLUSIVE: Factual producer Sprint Footage is transferring into scripted and has completed taking pictures its first venture, Higher, a function movie during which Sport of Thrones and The Umbrella Academy’s Tom Hopper performs an identical twins.
The psychological thriller stars Hopper as Henry, a person at a low ebb who meets a long-lost an identical twin, Patrick, who seems to be a lot better than him in each manner, sparking an existential disaster of harmful proportions.
Anna O’Malley (Sluggish Horses) produces and Sprint founder Daniel Sharp helms, marking his function directorial debut. Omid Ghaffarian is the author.
Sprint just lately introduced a slate of factual reveals together with a Genghis Khan sequence for Nat Geo, a rustic home present that has been pre-bought by Channel 4, and What Actually Occurred: American Independence, a doc sequence for the 250th anniversary of 1776 Declaration of Independence and a follow-up from Sprint’s earlier present Frontier.
These tasks see Sprint on acquainted floor, making docs and factual sequence, and it has garnered 4 Emmy noms for its unscripted work. Sharp informed Deadline that the transfer into scripted sequence and movie has been a long-held ambition for Sprint.
“We now have achieved a sure stage of high quality in our unscripted work and we’ve been making an attempt to attend for the proper time to do scripted at what appears like the identical stage,” he mentioned. “We now have acquired the choices to some books and we’re growing much more scripted, each movies and sequence.”
In Higher Hopper performs each Henry and his newfound twin, Patrick. Henry is scuffling with a failing marriage and trapped in a job he hates. Grieving the current loss of life of his estranged father, his life is falling aside when he meets his long-lost an identical twin. Because the brothers reconnect, Henry begins to unravel, affected by self-doubt and a rising obsession with Patrick’s seemingly charmed existence. What begins as a reunion shortly spirals right into a psychological descent.
“This can be a very particular venture, which touches on two ends of the spectrum of psychological well being however informed by way of the lives of two estranged twin brothers,” Hopper informed Deadline. “Taking part in twins is one thing I’ve at all times needed to try in some unspecified time in the future in my profession. Diving deep into these two was actually enjoyable and a problem in itself — to outline each of their nuances and to actually have the viewers imagine these characters aren’t being performed by the identical actor.”
Hopper can also be a producer on Higher, alongside his spouse Laura who can also be an actor and stars within the movie. “Generally as an actor you may really feel separated from that facet of issues, which might depart you with a whole lot of questions,” he mentioned. “So, from a inventive standpoint it was superb for myself and Laura to be part of each dialog.”
In TV, Sprint works with varied distributors together with the likes of Fremantle, Sphere Abacus, DCD and Boat Rocker. It’s now beginning to speak to gross sales brokers for Higher.
“As we transfer into publish, I believe it’s that very same ethos of actually working to ensure we choose and discover the proper companions,” Sharp mentioned. “We’ve been actually fortunate that we’ve been in a position to make this and finance it and put the whole lot collectively with out having to pre-sell any territories.”
He added that the scripted slate is taking form. “There’s a e book that we’ve simply purchased, which is about in Eire. We all know that it’s a manageable manufacturing and that we might execute that to a excessive commonplace. There are just a few different issues that we’re beginning to develop which are perhaps just a little bit extra formidable, however we wouldn’t greenlight these till we actually have the backing and the finance that we have to execute.”
