Searchlight Lands Sam Mendes’ Next Film ‘Empire Of Light’ Starring Olivia Colman

Searchlight Pictures and Sam Mendes are teaming on his next project as the company has boarded Empire of Light, with Olivia Colman in negotiations to star. This will mark Mendes first film since his Oscar-nominated 1917 and the first time he and Colman have worked together.

Empire of Light also reteams Mendes with cinematographer Roger Deakins, who won an Oscar for his work on 1917.

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Mendes also penned the script for the love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s. Mendes and Pippa Harris will produce via Neal Street Productions. The project will be overseen by Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum, Presidents of Production, Film and Television, and Katie Goodson-Thomas, Head of Development & Production, Searchlight Pictures UK.

Mendes has taken his time picking his next film after 1917, which was not only a critical darling earning with 10 Oscar nominations, including one for himself, but also was a major hit at the box office. The World War I pic grossed $384 million at the worldwide box office, including $159 million domestic.

After winning her first Oscar for Searchlight’s The Favourite, Colman returns to the studio continuing to rack up honors. She most recently earned several nominations for the most recent season of The Crown including a SAG and also has earned high praise for performance in The Father, including an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Mendes is repped by CAA and The Agency and Colman is repped by ICM Partners and United Agents.

CAA Media Finance brokered deal.

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