Dame Judi Dench, Isla Fisher, and THE GUEST himself Dan Stevens (pictured above) have signed on to star in director Edward Hall's BLITHE SPIRIT, a cinematic "re-imagining" of the Noël Coward play of the same name, which was first brought to life on stage in 1941.
BLITHE SPIRIT will tell the story of
a best-selling crime novelist suffering from writer’s block as he struggles to finish his first screenplay. His quest for inspiration leads him to invite an eccentric mystic to his home to perform a séance. He gets more than he bargained when they inadvertently summon the spirit of his first wife.
The script has been written by Meg Leonard, Nick Moorcroft, and Piers Ashworth. Leonard and Moorcroft are also producing the film with James Spring, Hilary Bevan Jones, Peter Snell, and Tuni Pinnolis. BLITHE SPIRIT is a Fred Films and Powder Keg Pictures production, in association with British Lion Films.
Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT has previously inspired the musical play HIGH SPIRITS, which was first performed in 1964, and a 1945 film directed by David Lean. Lean also wrote that film with Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan. It's interesting that both film adaptations have had three credited screenwriters.
Coward was disappointed by the 1945 film. He passed away back in 1973, but hopefully this new version of BLITHE SPIRIT will turn out to be something he would have enjoyed.
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