A LITTLE HOUSE PRODUCTIONS` FILM Written by David Baddiel

A LITTLE HOUSE PRODUCTIONS' FILM
Written by David Baddiel and Peter Bradshaw
To be Directed by David Baddiel
When Fran’s suburban idyll is torn apart by vicious
accusations, she forms a group of similarly accused
women for support. But their solidarity soon gives
way to suspicion…
Fran Holmes lives a predictable life with her
husband and children in suburban Cornwall. She
starts suffering poisonous intimidation from locals
who believe she is Alice Bell: a notorious killer’s
ex girlfriend reportedly relocated somewhere in
the UK. Using social media, Fran befriends other
similarly accused women - their mutual-help group
offers solidarity but unexpectedly becomes an
overnight media sensation. But what if one of them
actually is Alice Bell?
Based on true life events inspired by the
demonisation of women presumed to be Ian
Huntley’s girlfriend Maxine Carr, I AM NOT ALICE
BELL is a female-centric satirical thriller and modern
day witch-hunt with a dark humorous heart.
David Baddiel is a comedian, novelist, columnist
and screenwriter.
His TV career includes a number of acclaimed
comedy shows in the 90s including The Mary
Whitehouse Experience, Fantasy Football League,
and Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned. Since then,
he has made documentaries for the BBC and
Horizon including Who Do You Think You Are?
and Baddiel And The Missing Nazi Billions. On
radio, he created and hosted Radio 4’s comedy
discussion programme Heresy as well as the
acclaimed series Four Thought. He has written
four novels that have been translated into over 30
languages: Time For Bed (1996), Whatever Love
Means (1999), The Secret Purposes (2005), and
The Death of Eli Gold (2011).
In 2010, Baddiel wrote, and was a producer on,
The Infidel. The film has been released in over
60 countries and has grossed over five million
dollars to date - having cost just over one and
a half to make. Viacom has picked up the rights
for a Bollywood remake and the musical version,
which Baddiel has written, opens in Stratford East
in Autumn 2014.
In 2011, Baddiel wrote and directed a Little
Cracker for Sky and most recently a BBC4 comedy
pilot, Puppy Love, written by and starring Joanna
Scanlan and Vicky Pepperdine. He is about to
direct his own sitcom for Channel 4, Sit.Com.
In addition to directing, Baddiel has feature
scripts in development with Bwark Productions,
Montecito Picture Company and Chris Weitz’s
production company, Depth of Field.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I AM NOT ALICE BELL is a film that will speak to us
about how we live now. In the digital information
age, so much of how we relate to each other
depends on what we can find out - what we think
we know about each other - before we even meet.
Rumour, suspicion and conspiracy theory have far
more power than they used to have, which was
always a lot; and the mob convictions, however
absurd, that result from these, can now feel
unstoppable.
I want to make a film about women. I AM NOT
ALICE BELL gives a rare chance for four women to
play as an ensemble: a darker, grittier and more
British Bridesmaids perhaps. I have been lucky
enough to work with a number of brilliant British
female comic actresses in their 30s and 40s and
I AM NOT ALICE BELL would enable them to be
on screen together for the first time. This film puts
those actresses at centre stage.
I AM NOT ALICE BELL is genuinely cross generic,
treading a deliberately delicate line between
psychological thriller and satire, in the modern
Black Mirror manner: funny where it should be
and chilling in others. As such, it is breaking some
artistic filmic boundaries which is what draws
me to the material so deeply. I want to create
something that feels tonally in the region of the
Coen Bros’ small-town films, particularly Fargo.
Funny, but also disturbing, relevant and deeply
cinematic.
Peter Bradshaw is the film critic at The Guardian
and has been shortlisted four times for the British
Press Awards Critic Of The Year. He has published
three novels: Lucky Baby Jesus (1999), Dr Sweet
And His Daughter (2003) and Night Of Triumph
(2013) and one work of non-fiction: Not Alan
Clark’s Diary (1998) about his experiences of being
sued by the late Conservative MP Alan Clark.
He has written and performed in the TV sitcom
Baddiel’s Syndrome with David Baddiel, and
costarring Morwenna Banks, Demetri Goritsas,
David Walliams, Celia Imrie and Omid Djalili. He
was also in the BBC Radio sketch The Skivers and
created and performed the English-Gothic radio
series For One Horrible Moment, both on Radio 4
Extra.
Uzma Hasan is the principal producer at VC backed
Little House Productions. Her first feature The
Infidel was released internationally to critical and
commercial acclaim and has since spawned a
Bollywood remake and West End musical. Most
recently, she exec produced award winning feature
documentary Flying Paper.
Her diverse slate includes co productions with the
BFI, Maven Pictures and Metrodome Distribution as
well as features from Guillermo Del Toro protege
Guillem Morales and Bert&Bertie.
She consults for international film finds including
Eurimages, the council of Europe’s film fund; the
Doha Film Institute; and Harvardwood, the official
network of Harvard alumni in the entertainment and
media industries. She sits on selection committees
for the British Independent Film Awards and Mira
Nair’s MAISHA Filmmaking Labs.
She is producing David Baddiel’s directorial debut I
AM NOT ALICE BELL.
We want to tell a challenging, frightening, funny
and timely story that is a passionate and intimate
piece of British cinema.
There is a great British tradition of strong
ensemble films, be it a warm, fuzzy Richard Curtis
rom com or the brooding machinations of John
le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I AM NOT
ALICE BELL builds on and subverts this tradition;
a satirical thriller with a female ensemble cast of
characters that the audience will grow to love and
want to protect. Their lives will resonate and their
jeopardy will really mean something.
Our script is the starting point for a visually
arresting and dramatically gripping cinematic
experience. The characters have the depth
and complexity to illicit memorable, powerful
performances from our female actors. Given the
prevalence of the male centered narrative in
cinema; I AM NOT ALICE BELL is a rare insight into
women as they really are, beyond the ciphers of
romantic interest or convenient plot device. These
women are the main driving force of our story:
with men as the supporting roles. The female
ensemble dynamic will be reminiscent of Calendar
Girls or Bridesmaids but with a suspenseful edge
- although obviously there will be loads of laughs.
Our writing is inspired by a very British tradition but
also by European cinema which looks at the way
society indulges in group-hysteria. We have taken
something from Lars Von Trier in his film Dogville
- the study of a smug small town descending into
paranoid violence and misogynist paranoia. I AM
NOT ALICE BELL takes a look at this small town
mentality and investigates the way the digital age
has turned Britain into a curtain-twitching small
town. We have also been inspired by Thomas
Vinterberg’s film The Hunt about a man who is
wrongly accused of being a child-abuser. He finds
that all his friendships and loyalties are useless
in the face of growing suspicion. I AM NOT ALICE
BELL also takes inspiration from a real satirical
classic about paranoia and group-hysteria: HenriGeorges Clouzot’s black-and-white 1940s film
The Raven, about a country doctor who suddenly
finds he is the subject of anonymous letters sent
to village worthies, accusing him of immorality.
That film was a satire on the dark side of human
nature and the ugly herd instinct in Occupied
France. I AM NOT ALICE BELL will be a very
contemporary film, tackling the world of 21stcentury Britain, a world in which misogyny and
fear of women is never far away, and is given a new
and chilling lease of life through the anonymous
forces of troll-ism and the web. The film’s satire and
comedy will also challenge and upend political
correctness and bland liberal verities. This film
will be a timeless, disturbing and deeply relevant
insight into contemporary society.
BUDGET
£1.5m (See attached)
SHOOT
5 weeks/25 days (See attached)
Q3 2015
DELIVERY
Q1 2016
FRAN HOLMES | Olivia Colman
JULIE
Catherine Tate
Miranda Hart
Sally Hawkins
CHARLOTTE
Anne Marie Duff
Alice Lowe
Anna Maxwell Martin
VANESSA
Natascha McElhone
Helen McCrory
Maxine Peake
NICK
Martin Freeman
Andy Serkis
Riz Ahmed
For more information, please contact:
Uzma Hasan
Little House Productions
t 44 20 7535 7233
m 44 7956 686 167
e [email protected]
w littlehouse-productions.com
a Garfield House 86-88 Edgware Road London W2 2EA