“LONDON HAS FALLEN” BEGINS FILMING
GERARD BUTLER, AARON ECKHART,
MORGAN FREEMAN, ANGELA BASSETT, MELISSA LEO REPRISE STARRING ROLES
LONDON – Principal photography has begun on Millennium Films’ and Focus Features’ London Has Fallen, the sequel to the worldwide smash hit “Olympus Has Fallen.”
Gerard Butler again stars as Secret Service agent Mike Banning, alongside Aaron Eckhart as the President of the United States. Also returning are Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman, as Vice President Trumbull, Academy Award® nominee Angela Bassett, as Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs, and Academy Award® winner Melissa Leo as Defense Secretary Ruth McMillan.
Babak Najafi (“Snabba Cash II”) directs the thriller from a screenplay by Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt (“Olympus Has Fallen”), Christian Gudegast and Chad St. John.
The story begins in London, where the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances. His funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the western world. However, what starts out as the most protected event on Earth turns into a deadly plot to kill the world’s most powerful leaders, devastate every known landmark in the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. Only three people have any hope of stopping it: the President of the United States, his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), and an English MI-6 agent who rightly trusts no one.
Reprising their roles in support are Academy Award® nominee Robert Forster as General Edward Clegg, Sean O’Bryan as NSA Deputy Director Ray Monroe, and Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning. Joining the returning cast members are Academy Award® nominee Jackie Earle Haley, Alon Aboutboul (“The Dark Knight Rises”), Charlotte Riley, and Waleed Zuaiter (from the Academy Award® nominated film “Omar”).
London Has Fallen is being produced by Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, John Thompson, Les Weldon, and Mark Gill.
The executive producers are Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Peter Schlessel, Matt O’Toole, Boaz Davidson, Heidi Jo Markel, Christine Crow, Zygi Kamasa and Guy Avshalom. Lonnie Ramati is co-executive producer. Peter Heslop is co-producer.
Mr. Najafi’s creative team includes production designer Joel Collins (“Autobahn,” “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”), costume designer Stephanie Collie (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Layer Cake”), and cinematographer Ed Wild (“Autobahn”). Casting is by Elaine Grainger.
Focus Features will release London Has Fallen theatrically nationwide on October 2nd, 2015.
Millennium Films
Millennium Films is one of the largest and longest-running independent film companies in the world. The studio releases eight to 10 feature films per year, providing development, financing, physical production and global distribution. Millennium Films is best known for “The Expendables” franchise and “Olympus Has Fallen.”
Focus Features
Focus Features (www.focusfeatures.com) makes, acquires, and releases movies from rising and established talent and filmmakers. The company is moving forward with a diverse slate of wide releases appealing to a range of moviegoers. Staying true to the company’s roots, the slate will also include several specialty films each year.
In addition to London Has Fallen, current and upcoming releases from Focus include “The Boxtrolls,” the new family event movie from LAIKA, directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable with a voice cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, and Tracy Morgan; the romantic drama “The Theory of Everything,” directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh and starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as Stephen and Jane Hawking; “Black Sea,” the suspenseful adventure thriller starring Jude Law for director Kevin Macdonald; the romantic drama “A Little Chaos,” directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet; Tarsem Singh’s “Selfless,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley; Leigh Whannell’s “Insidious: Chapter 3,” the newest chapter in the terrifying horror series; “Sinister 2,” directed by Ciaran Foy; Juan Antonio Bayona’s visually spectacular drama “A Monster Calls,” starring Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, and Liam Neeson; and Stephen Hopkins’ “Race,” starring Jeremy Irons, Jason Sudeikis, and Stephan James as the legendary athletic superstar Jesse Owens.
Focus Features is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.