Academy Award winning duo, Anthony Hopkins (Westworld, The Pope, The Silence of the Lambs) and 2019 Winner, Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Night Manager, The Crown, Murder on the Orient Express) will star in Florian Zeller’s movie adaptation of his worldwide stage play hit The Father.

Principal photography on The Father begins in May in the UK. Financing has been arranged by Viewfinder and Embankment - and is provided by Elarof Fund and Film4.

Hopkins stars in the eponymous role; a mischievous and highly independent man who, as he ages, refuses all assistance from his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman). Yet such help has become essential, following Anne’s decision to move to Paris with her partner

As Anne’s father tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality: as if the world, for a moment, has ceased to be logical.

The Father immerses us in the heart-breaking and uncompromisingly poignant trajectory of a man, once strong and full of life, whose reality is crumbling before our eyes. And this is also Anne’s journey, as she faces an equally painful and universal dilemma: what must she do with her father?

Florian Zeller will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Academy Award winner Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons).

The 2012 play, written and directed by Zeller, was first launched in Paris, winning a Moliere Award for Best Play before hitting Broadway NY and London’s West End where it won both Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Actor.

Zeller, a French novelist and multi award-winning playwright, won the prestigious Prix Interallié for his novel The Fascination of Evil. The Guardian describes him as “the most exciting new theatre writer of our time”.

The Father immediately follows Embankment’s recent success with The Wife, for which Embankment arranged full financing and which ironically lost out on an Academy Award for its star Glenn Close to Colman for the Film4-backed The Favourite.

Tim Haslam said; “The Father is a deeply personal performance showcase for Hopkins and Colman - a universally affecting story to which the audience directly relate their own lives and families. Florian has a cinematic voice that will put the audience on the edge of their seats.”

The Father is a Trademark Films/FCommeFilm / Ciné-@ / Les Films du Cru co-production, produced by Academy Award winner David Parfitt (Red Joan, Shakespeare in Love), Jean-Louis Livi (Read My Lips, Un Coeur en Hiver) and Philippe Carcassonne (Coco before Chanel, Ridicule).

Christophe Spadone for Les Films du Cru and the stage play’s producer Simon Friend also produce.

Viewfinder’s Paul Grindey executive produces, alongside Daniel Battsek, Lauren Dark and Ollie Madden for Film4. Embankment executive produce and represent worldwide sales, excluding France. CAA, UTA and Embankment co-represent the US.