Christoph Waltz To Play Lead In ‘Billy Wilder & Me’ From Christopher Hampton And Stephen Frears

Christoph Waltz is to lead Stephen Frears and Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Billy Wilder & Me. 

The No Time to Die and Inglorious Basterds star will play Wilder in the part coming-of-age story, part true-to-life portrait of the Hollywood icon, which is adapted from a book by Jonathan Coe. In the summer of 1977, an innocent young woman begins working for famed director Billy Wilder and his screenwriter Iz Diamond on a Greek island during the filming of Fedora. When she follows Wilder to Germany to continue the shoot, she finds herself joining him on a journey of memory into the heart of his family history.

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The film sees Frears and two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Hampton reunited for their third collaboration after Dangerous Liaisons and Cheri.

Production will commence in Greece, Munich and Paris, with casting of further principal roles coming shortly.

Waltz said: “Christoph Waltz said: “Billy Wilder said “You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning“. A Stephen Frears movie from a Christopher Hampton script produced by Jeremy Thomas should do the trick for me.”

Jeremy Thomas’ Recorded Picture Company is producing, with Reinhard Brundig and Christos V. Konstantakopoulos producing alongside Thomas. They previously partnered with Thomas on Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, while Thomas’ last film, Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

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