Carol and Colette producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, co-founders of Number 9 Films, are to receive the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the 72nd BAFTAs on Sunday 10 February in London. Previous recipients of the prestigious BAFTA award include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, Ridley and…

Their Finest star Gemma Arterton is to play Dusty Springfield in Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy's directorial debut. Arterton will star in So Much Love, produced by Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley's Number 9 Films, that is being launched in Toronto by Rocket Science. The film, which is set in 1968 at the peak…

Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley’s Number 9 Films has appointed Claudia Yusef as the UK indie’s head of development. The exec, who joins from Scottish Film Talent Network, will oversee development of all upcoming projects at Number 9 as well as focusing on discovering, nurturing and working with emerging talent…

EXCLUSIVE: British actor Ray Panthaki has joined the Wash Westmoreland-directed biopic Colette, starring Keira Knightley and Dominic West. Panthaki, who was a 2014 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit, will play real-life French writer and playwright Pierre Veber. Co-written by Westmoreland and the late Richard Glatzer with…

EXCLUSIVE: Denise Gough, Fiona Shaw, Robert Pugh and Rebecca Root have joined Keira Knightley and Dominic West for upcoming production Colette, which is set to begin shooting this week in the UK, Hungary and France. Still Alice helmer Wash Westmoreland will direct the project about the French novelist who wrote Gigi…

Former Hanway Films managing director Thorsten Schumacher has launched a new production, finance, sales and distribution venture dubbed Rocket Science. The company, which will be based in London and plans to expand to Los Angeles in early 2017, is backed by a consortium of investors across Europe, the Middle East and…

EXCLUSIVE: Billy Howle has been cast opposite Saoirse Ronan in On Chesil Beach for Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley's Number 9 Films. The British newcomer, whose upcoming credits include The Sense Of An Ending with Emily Mortimer and Charlotte Rampling and The Seagull also with Ronan and Annette Bening, has…

EXCLUSIVE– Getting one high-end, sophisticated independent film off the ground in today's climate is no mean feat. Carol producers Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen and their company Number 9 Films seem to have cracked a way to turn good taste into a viable business. They are on the verge of having their biggest…

EXCLUSIVE: Best Actress Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan will star in On Chesil Beach for Number 9 Films’ Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley. Dominic Cooke (The Hollow Crown) will make his feature directorial debut with the adaptation of the acclaimed Ian McEwan novel. This is another classy project for Number 9, which…

EXCLUSIVE– Keira Knightley biopic Colette, about the French novelist who wrote Gigi and Cheri, has sold out for Hanway Films. The project, produced by Number 9 Films, Killer Films and Bold Films- who also finance- has proven to be one of the hot titles at this year’s EFM in Berlin. The deals closed include France…

Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska are heading the cast of the new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Carol (aka The Price of Salt). It’s directed by John Crowley (Intermission, Boy A) and Phyllis Nagy (Mrs Harris) has written the adaptation based on the novella by Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr Ripley…