21/06/2005

Joe Wright, the upcoming UK director who has just finished the screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride And Prejudice for Working Title, has been hired by the leading UK production company to direct another literary adaptation.
Atonement, the best-selling novel of Ian McEwan is set in 1935. Focusing on the story of three young people, the book is a depiction of love and war, class struggle, childhood and England that explores shame and forgiveness, atonement and the possibility of absolution.
The film version written by Christopher Hampton was previously set to be directed by the established UK theatre director Richard Eyre, but the latter just walked away from the project after a dispute with Working Title over filming schedules.

Ian McEwan’s Atonement has won many literary awards including the Commonwealth Prize in 2002. Several of his books have already been adapted for the big screen, including Enduring Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Comfort Of Strangers and The Cement Garden.

Working Title decided to hand over Atonement to Joe Wright based on his convincing work on Pride And Prejudice which was actually his feature film debut.
The film adaptation, written by Deborah Moggah, stars Keira Knightley, Scott McGehee, Matthew MacFadyen, Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland. According to Working Title’s co-director and producer Tim Bevan, the period film was given a great ‘modern edge’ by the talented young director Joe Wright. The story of the five Bennet sisters and their attempts to find husbands will have its premiere on September 16th, 2005.