‘Loving Vincent’ Producer & ‘Chaplin’ Writer Plot Course For Period Story ‘The Galapagos Affair’

Tom Grater

Click here to read the full article.

EXCLUSIVE: Ivan Mactaggart, the UK producer whose credits include Oscar-nominated animation Loving Vincent and Judi Dench starrer Red Joan, is teaming with scribe William Boyd (Chaplin) on period feature The Galapagos Affair.

Set in the late 1920s and based on a true story, the pic will follow German doctor Friedrich Ritter and his patient, Dore Strauch, as they leave their spouses to pursue a utopian dream on the deserted Galapagos island of Floreana.

More from Deadline

Their peace and solitude is disrupted by the arrival of the glamorous ‘Baroness’ Eloise Wagner de Bosquet and her two young lovers. Disturbed by the Baroness, Friedrich and Dore’s island paradise gradually descends in a spiral of jealousy, resentment, violence and eventually murder.

The pic is based on the historical book by John Treherne and was also previously told in 2013 documentary Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden, which was directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller and featured the voice of Cate Blanchett.

Mactaggart will produce The Galapagos Affair through his banner Cambridge Picture Company alongside Michael Kelk of Wire Films, who developed the project. Both producers are based in Cambridge, UK.

Mactaggart commented on the project, “Throw together a cast of eccentric misfits on an idyllic tropical island, add lust and jealousy and you have Love Island. Add some weapons and you have The Galapagos Affair.”

Producer and financier Mactaggart established Cambridge Picture Company in 2017 after leaving David Parfitt’s Trademark Films, where he was a partner and had worked on pics including My Week With Marilyn and The Wipers Times. His first credit at Cambridge was Judi Dench feature Red Joan, which was co-produced with Trademark.

Boyd’s writing credits include Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin, which was nominated for three Oscars, and war drama The Trench, which starred Daniel Craig.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.