'Jackboots on Whitehall' to open 18th Raindance Film Festival

Animated film Jackboots On Whitehall - which features the voices of Ewan McGregor and Alan Cumming - will open this year's Raindance Film Festival on September 29. The UK's largest independent film festival will be held at the Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly Circus in London. The festival runs through October 10 and you can get details on tickets at the festival's official site.

First 'Jackboots on Whitehall' trailer

The Edinburgh International Film Festival will screen the film's world premiere later this month, and now the first official trailer has been unveiled.

Jackboots on Whitehall is a satirical alternative history of World War II where the Nazis seize London and England must band together to prevent a full on invasion. It includes the voices of Ewan McGregor and Alan Cumming.

Ewan McGregor joins 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' + 'Jackboots' to premiere at Cannes

Ewan McGregor has been cast alongside Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas in Lasse Hallström's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Written by Simon Beaufoy, the romantic comedy is based on Paul Torday's novel of the same name. The film is being sold to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival. A synopsis is below:

Dr. Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. Dr. Jones refuses, but the project, however scientifically absurd, catches the eye of British politicians, who pressure him to work on it. His diaries of the Yemen Salmon Project, from beginning to glorious, tragic end, form the narrative backbone of this novel; interspersed throughout are government memos, e-mails, letters, and interview transcripts that deftly capture the absurdity of bureaucratic dysfunction.

With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters--including a weasel-like spin doctor, a missing soldier and his intrepid fiancée, and Dr. Jones's own devilish wife--Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the whimsical story of an unlikely hero who discovers true love, finds himself first a pawn and then a victim of political spin, and learns to believe in the impossible. [ComingSoon.net via Best of Ewan]

There are also reports that animated movie Jackboots on Whitehall featuring Ewan McGregor and Alan Cumming will premiere at Cannes.

New 'Jackboots on Whitehall' poster

Synopsis:

Jackboots on Whitehall is a satirical alternative history to WWII where the Nazis have seized London and England must band together at Hadrian's Wall if they are to prevent a German invasion. [Wiki]

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First look: Ewan McGregor's character from Jackboots on Whitehall

Ewan McGregor is the voice of Chris (photo above) while Alan Cumming also stars in the film as Hitler. Check out the on-the-set interview with the filmmakers here. Here's a synopsis of the film:

It's a WWII satirical comedy with puppets. We pick up the story just before the Nazi invasion. Once that happens, Churchill has to leave London, and the country's only chance of survival is a young farmer from Kent called Chris, played by Ewan McGregor. Chris has got these extraordinarily large hands, hands so big that he wouldn't be able to join the army. He has a chance to be the soldier that he always wanted to be, and he saves the day, basically. The film is a pastiche of 1940s, 50s and 60s war films, of romantic films, like Zulu, Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge over the River Kwai: big British films. [Netribution]

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Jackboots on Whitehall starts principal photography

Principal photography for Jackboots on Whitehall began on July 15 at Three Mills Studios in London. The animated film will be shooting at the location for 8 weeks.

The film will be voiced by Ewan McGregor and "follows a group of heroic villagers as they fight against the Nazi invasion of England and rescue Churchill." [Screen Daily]

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