EDGE OF DARKNESS

Mel Gibson will play Thomas Craven

Martin Campbell will direct the feature adaptation of "Edge of Darkness".
The story of "Edge of Darkness" began twenty-two years ago, in the Eighties.
In late 1985, BBC Television in association with Lionheart Television International produced the drama serial that was first broadcast on BBC2 in six 50-minute episodes but due to the instant critical praise it received, it was repeated almost immediately on BBC1 in three 1hr40m episodes and repeated once again shortly after. Each time, the viewing audience grew unlike the pattern of declining viewers so typical of repeats.
A mixture of crime drama, political thriller, and science fiction, "Edge of Darkness" revolves around the efforts of policeman Ronald Craven to unravel the truth behind the brutal killing of his daughter Emma . Craven's investigations soon lead him into a murky world of Government and corporate cover-ups and nuclear espionage, pitting him against dark forces that threaten the future of life on Earth.
Campbell helmed the acclaimed miniseries, which received eleven nominations and won six awards at the 1986 BAFTA Awards.
In 2003, Martin Campbell made a first attempt to turn "Edge of Darkness" into a feature. "Variety" announced the remake.

Posted, tuesday, Jan.28, 2003
BBC Films will join Catch 23 Entertainment to turn the acclaimed six-hour BBC miniseries "Edge of Darkness" into a feature that will be written by Andrew Bovell and directed by Martin Campbell.
Campbell, who just completed "Beyond Borders," directed the 1985 mini, which won six BAFTA Awards.
The feature turn for "Edge of Darkness" is comparable to the adaptation of the British mini "Traffic," which was turned into an Oscar-winning film about the drug trade. "Edge of Darkness" begins as a murder mystery, as a detective's daughter is gunned down in front of him. The mini then veers into the subject of the illegal harvesting of plutonium.
Campbell said the subject matter has particularly strong resonance now.
"What makes it so contemporary is the Bush administration and their nuclear and military policies," Campbell said. "The original story concentrated on the policy of the Margaret Thatcher regime, at the time of the miners' strike, when she broke the back of the union.
"Part of the story is the discovery of an underground storage facility which is illegally manufacturing plutonium and is about to be privatized by an American company."
The British helmer said the movie will be based in the U.S. and will make political points, which he and Bovell are still working out.
The feature will be produced by Michael Wearing, who produced the original. Dan Rissner will exec produce. C23's Rachel Wood and Suzanne Warren will oversee the project with BBC's Peter Kalmbach.
Bovell teamed with Baz Luhrmann to write "Strictly Ballroom" and "Lantana" and is scripting a remake of the Japanese film "Kaosu" for "Sexy Beast" helmer Jonathan Glazer as a starring vehicle for Benicio Del Toro at Universal. He will begin scripting "Edge of Darkness" right away. Catch 23 chairman Robert B. Sturm and BBC Films head David Thompson made the deal to co-finance the pic.
"Edge of Darkness" becomes a candidate for Campbell's next slot. He's overseeing development of "Zorro 2," with plans to reunite Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins. Campbell also has come aboard a remake of "El Cid."

And after four years´silence we suddenly knew that "Edge of Darkness" was not dead.

NOVEMBER 2007 -strike by the Writers Guild of America in the US.
Lantana co-writer Andrew Bovell has one US project stuck in the strike, the film adaptation of Edge of Darkness, to be directed by Casino Royale's Martin Campbell. Bovell recently finished a script with the express aim of securing a leading male star.
"I just went hell for leather and delivered at the end of October, and now we have to wait and see what happens," he said. "I would have been in daily email contact previously with the producers and now we're not talking."
Bovell is busy enough working to deliver his next play, When the Rain Stops Falling, for the Adelaide Festival.
"I'm fortunate as I'm not Hollywood based and not deeply embedded in that industry. But I'd hate to see Edge of Darkness go down after four years because of this," he said.

MEL GIBSON joins the team.
The information was posted by "Variety" in April 2008.

Posted, wednesday, April 28, 2008
Mel Gibson has committed to star in "Edge of Darkness," marking his first starring role in a feature film since he headlined "Signs" and "We Were Soldiers" in 2002.
Martin Campbell will direct the feature adaptation of the six-hour 1985 BBC miniseries, which Campbell also helmed.
William Monahan wrote the script, and Graham King is producing through his GK Films banner. Michael Wearing, who produced the original, will also produce, and the BBC will be involved in a producing capacity.
Campbell, who last directed "Casino Royale," developed the project and brought it to King a year ago. He enlisted Monahan for a page one rewrite; the scribe worked with King on "The Departed." King is self-financing the project and is committed to an August production start in Boston. It is unclear whether he will fully finance through production or enlist a studio.
Gibson will play a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. He plunges into the case and uncovers systemic corruption that led to his daughter's death. Gibson had long been a fan of the mini and was receptive when King and Campbell approached him several months ago.
Before "Signs" and "We Were Soldiers," Gibson starred in 2000's "What Women Want" and "The Patriot." Subsequently, he concentrated on directing, with "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004 and "Apocalypto" in 2006.
While Gibson has stayed under the radar after controversy sparked in 2006, he has continued to be offered acting vehicles, and he came close to accepting on several occasions, including "Under and Alone," a fact-based drama still in development at Warner Bros.
At a time when supposedly proven stars aren't translating to opening weekends, films that Gibson starred in and directed have grossed north of $5 billion worldwide.
King and Monahan won Oscars for "The Departed," and the producer recently made a first-look deal with the writer, who has taken residence in GK headquarters. Among the projects on which Monahan and King are collaborating is the Paramount-based true story of Jim Keene, who traded a prison sentence to go undercover at a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. King will produce that film with Alexandra Milchan, based on an upcoming Playboy magazine article by Keene and writer Hillel Levin.

Last May, GK Films took the movie to Cannes Film Festival.
According to Hollywood Reporter, RCV Entertainment will release the new Mel Gibson thriller "Edge of Darkness".
Production will start in August.

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