The Lost City of Z (film)

The Lost City of Z
Directed by	James Gray
Produced by	Brad Pitt Dede Gardner Dale Johnson Anthony Katagas Jeremy Kleiner
Screenplay by	James Gray
Based on	The Lost City of Z by David Grann
Starring	Charlie Hunnam Robert Pattinson Sienna Miller Tom Holland
Cinematography	Darius Khondji
Edited by	John Axelrad
Production company	Plan B Entertainment MICA Entertainment
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (United States) StudioCanal (United Kingdom)
Country	United States
Language	English

The Lost City of Z is an upcoming action adventure biographical film, written and directed by James Gray, based on the 2009 book of the same name by David Grann. It describes real events, about British explorer Percy Fawcett who made several attempts to find an ancient lost city in the Amazon and finally disappeared in 1925 along with his son in the search for the city. It stars Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett along with Robert Pattinson as his fellow explorer Henry Costin and Sienna Miller as his wife Nina Fawcett.

Plot

Explorers search for a British Colonel who disappeared trying to find a legendary City of Z, in the region of Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, the Pantanal of Brazil, during in 1925.

Cast

• Charlie Hunnam as Colonel Percy Fawcett
• Robert Pattinson as Corporal Henry Costin
• Sienna Miller as Nina Fawcett
• Tom Holland as Jack Fawcett
  • Bobby Smalldridge as 7-year-old Jack Fawcett
  • Tom Mulheron as young Jack Fawcett
• Angus Macfadyen as James Murray
• Edward Ashley as Corporal Arthur Manley
• John Sackville as Simon Beauclerk
• Adam Bellamy as Cecil Gosling
• Daniel Huttlestone as Brian Fawcett

Production

Development

"David Lean but with a "slightly more hallucinogenic feel. Because [the protagonist] went to the jungle and sorta went mad."

—James Gray, director of The Lost City of Z, on the film.

Originally James Gray was hired by Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment to write and direct the film based on David Grann's 2009 book in February 2009 but the film remained in development stage for six years. In a 2015 interview with Indiewire, Gray admitted that he had developed the script for a while before moving towards production. He explained that "(it's) very complicated production and the story is amazing, but it's a complicated story. And you want to get it right. It's a very, very scary proposition to go into the jungle and all that. But at the same time it's terrific. It's why you make movies."

Casting

The project went through numerous casting changes for the lead role. Initially Brad Pitt was to star as Colonel Percy Fawcett, additionally providing production duties through his Plan B Entertainment. In November 2010, Pitt withdrew from the lead role due to scheduling conflicts, but remained attached as the producer to the film. On September 4, 2013, Benedict Cumberbatch came on board to portray Fawcett, along with Robert Pattinson, who also joined the cast as fellow explorer Henry Costin.

In February 2015, Cumberbatch also dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, and was replaced by Charlie Hunnam, while Sienna Miller also joined the cast as Nina Fawcett.

Filming

Principal photography began on August 19, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and continued for five weeks through late September 2015. After that, filming moved to Santa Marta, Colombia, South America and continued through September and October 2015. On August 28, 2015 filming took place at Greyabbey Village and Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. Hunnam and Miller filmed scenes at Ballintoy County Antrim on August 31, 2015. Filming took place at Craigavon House, East Belfast on September 2, 2015. Hunnam, Pattinson, Miller and Macfadyen shot scenes at Methodist College Belfast on September 3, 2015. On September 7, 2015, scenes were filmed at Belfast City Hall and on the grounds of Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Scenes also shot at Bangor Castle Leisure Centre on September 13, 2015.

External links

• The Lost City of Z at IMDb