021502 Express

February 15, 2002
The Express
Day & Night; Battle is on to save GBP 15m Epic
by Kathryn Spencer, Julie Carpenter & Kate Bohdanowicz

MOVIE moguls are fighting to save an eagerly-awaited big-budget British film based on the English Civil War, starring Rupert Everett, Tim Roth and Dougray Scott.

Film bosses at Jude Law's company Natural Nylon are holding a series of crisis meetings to prevent the collapse of the GBP 15 million project, titled Cromwell and Fairfax.

The high-profile cast and crew stopped work at the beginning of this week after almost a month's filming when financial backing for the picture fell through. Some of the crew have not been paid for two weeks. The historic epic - being shot at Hampton Court Palace - is the first film to be based on the bloody conflict of the 1640s since the Seventies film Cromwell - when Richard Harris played the Roundhead leader and Alec Guinness played the ill-fated King Charles I.

Shooting began in January with Planet of the Apes star Roth playing Cromwell, Everett portraying Charles and Enigma actor Dougray Scott taking the part of military mastermind Thomas Fairfax.

"Rumours that it has collapsed are completely wrong," insists a Natural Nylon spokeswoman.

"We're trying to sort out the finances then it will be back on. It's just a pause."

But industry insiders are worried and the news is a set-back for Natural Nylon, the production company set up in 1997 by Law and actor pal Ewan McGregor.

Just last week, the film ended its filming stint at Hampton Court Palace, where - as we revealed last December - the entire front lawn was removed to turn it into 17thcentury Whitehall, the setting for Charles I's 1649 execution.

The fee asked by the Palace is believed to be in the region of GBP 120,000 and has been paid, according to Hampton Court.

Producer Kevin Loader, who worked on Captain Correlli's Mandolin, said he felt let down, but added: "The actors and crew are being fantastically supportive.

Everyone is holding firm and just waiting for me to tell them when and where we will start again."

- Thanks to Tamara of The Dougray Enigma for the find!