FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | Fall 1998: PRODUCTION UPDATE

PRODUCTION UPDATE

High drama comes to the bucolic countryside around Rhinebeck, New York, in Brian Skeet’s film version of The Weekend, the steamy Peter Cameron novel about a sextet of wealthy intellectuals relaxing over a summer’s weekend. The film takes place in "Virginia Woolf territory," says producer Ian Benson, and boasts an impressive cast: Jared Harris, Deborah Unger, James Duvall, Brooke Shields, and Gena Rowlands.

Brits Skeet and Benson came to the attention of U.S. audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival with their first feature, The Misadventures of Margaret, a musical comedy starring Parker Posey that has since been rescored and recut. (MGM will release the film in the States this fall.) Longtime collaborators, they met working on documentaries at the BBC in London where Skeet, now 32, first won recognition for the Larry Kramer portrait Kramer Versus Kramer in 1993. "We worked our way into drama via short films and Margaret," says Benson. Skeet’s entree into fiction was the 1994 short The Boy Who Fell in Love, which Benson credits with clinching Granada financing for Margaret as well as The Weekend.

The Weekend’s tight five-week shoot in and around Rhinebeck, an historic 19th century hamlet on the Hudson River two hours north of Manhattan, began July 13 and also took the filmmakers to neighboring Tivoli, near Bard College, and the Ashokan Reservoir. The filmmakers plan to post in London; Spring International is handling foreign sales.

Cast: Deborah Unger, Jared Harris, David Conrad, James Duval, D.B. Sweeney, Gena Rowlands, Brooke Shields, Gary Dourdan. Crew: Producer, Ian Benson; Executive Producers, Pippa Cross, Janette Day; Line Producer, Richard Turner; Screenwriter/Director, Brian Skeet; Director of Photography, Ron Fortunato; Production Designer, Bob Shaw; Costumes, Edi Giguere. Contact: Ian Benson, Holmes Associates, 38-42 Whitfield Street, 2nd floor, London W1P 5RF, England. Tel: (44 171) 813-4333, Fax: (44 171) 637-9024.