THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS       

THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS is a short film by Beat Pictures, in association with JMM Film and Kompass Pictures, starring Rupert Friend, Tom Mison and Keira Knightley.
         
          A darkly comic fairytale set somewhere between the worlds of Hans Christian Andersen, The Brothers Grimm and Tim Burton, THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS is set in a dark forest in a fairytale Bavaria. Brothers Barath (Tom Mison) and Bourbon (Rupert Friend) break up the boredom of their lives by trying to kill themselves each day, forever overlooking the presence of the long-suffering fairy (Keira Knightley) who lives with them.        THE TEAM BEHIND THE SUICIDE BROTHERS
         
          Rupert Friend (writer, producer, Bourbon)
          Rupert Friend is the co-writer and producer of THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS and plays the role of Bourbon.        Friend trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He was named outstanding new talent at the 2005 Satellite Awards. His most notable role to date is Mr Wickham in the 2005 adaptation of Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice. He was most recently seen in an adaptation of Colette’s famous novel, Cheri, alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and directed by Stephen Frears, in which he played the title role.

His work also includes Mark Herman’s acclaimed adaptation of John Boyne’s novel The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, and The Young Victoria, in which he plays Prince Albert opposite Emily Blunt's Queen Victoria. Amongst his other film credits are Jolene, Virgin Territory, The Last Legion, Outlaw, The Moon and The Stars, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont and The Libertine.        He recently finished filming Lullaby For Pi opposite Clemence Poesy and Forest Whitaker, and the adaptation of the bestselling autobiography The Kid.

Tom Mison (writer, Barath)
          Tom Mison is the co-writer of THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS and plays the role of Barath.Theatre includes: When The Rain Stops Falling (Almeida Theatre); Hedda (Gate Theatre); Les Enfants Du Paradis, The Living Unknown Soldier (Arcola Theatre); The Collection (Tbilisi, Georgia); The Virgin Martry, Caesar and Pompey (Globe Theatre); Hamlet (Old Vic Theatre); The Crossing Path, The Revenge of Truth (National Theatre); Time On Fire (National Theatre and Magic Theatre, San Fransisco) Television includes: Lewis; Poirot: Third Girl; Lost In Austen; Secret Diary Of A Call Girl; The Amazing Mrs Pritchard; Waste Of Shame.
         
          Film includes: Out There; Venus; Heroes and Villains; L'Entente Cordiale; The Mysterious Island.
         
          Radio includes: The Deep Blue Sea; Shakespeare's Sonnets.         Film includes: Out There; Venus; Heroes and Villains; L'Entente Cordiale; The Mysterious Island.                        Mison’s feature film credits include Venus and Heroes and Villains. He was most recently seen on television in the ITV series Lost in Austen playing the role of Mr Bingley. Amongst his other television credits are Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and The Amazing Mrs Pritchard.        His work on stage includes Hedda Gabler at The Gate opposite Cara Horgan.

Keira Knightley (the Fairy)
  Keira Knightley plays the Fairy. At 21 years of age Keira Knightley received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress for her acclaimed performance as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright                                                  ’s Pride & Prejudice.        Knightley first made headlines in Gurinder Chadha’s hit, Bend It Like Beckham, for which she won the London Critics Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year. She was then selected by director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer to star opposite Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush in the 2003 worldwide blockbusterPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and reprised her role in the international box office smash hits, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: World’s End.

Knightley’s diverse range of credits include Silk for director Francois Girard, Tony Scott’s action drama Domino, Antoine Fuqua and Jerry Bruckheimer’s King Arthur, John Maybury’s thriller The Jacket, and as part of the impressive ensemble cast in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually.        Making her professional acting debut at the age of six on British television in Royal Celebration, some of Knightley’s early credits include A Village Affair and Innocent Lies as well as performances in the TV series The Bill and the TV films Treasure Seekers, Coming Home and Walt Disney’s Princess of Thieves. Knightley’s mini-series credits include Oliver Twist and the adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s classic novel Doctor Zhivago.

Her other feature film credits include Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, The Holeand Pure.        In addition to her acting roles, Knightley was chosen to be the face of Coco Mademoiselle for Chanel. This occasion marked her third collaboration with director Joe Wright in a commercial for the brand.        Most recently she was seen in Saul Dibb’s The Duchess with Ralph Fiennes, for which she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Actress, and The Edge of Love with Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys and Cillian Murphy for John Maybury, written by Sharman Macdonald.

She has recently completed filming Last Night for the first time director Massey Tadjedin in New York.        Arran Brownlee and Corran Brownlee (directors) Brothers Arran and Corran Brownlee are originally from Calgary, Alberta, now longtime residents in London. For almost a decade they have worked together creating storyboards and concept art for film and television. In 2004 they were asked to direct the ‘making of’ documentary for the feature film, The Libertine. Since then they have continued to pursue a career in directing. THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS marks their directorial debut in film.

Jessica Cole (producer)
  Jessica Cole has produced several short films in the UK and France. Cole has worked with leading industry producers, including Paul Webster and Jane Frazer on the feature films Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day and Atonement. Amongst her most recent credits are The Duchess and The Edge of Love.        She is currently based in Honolulu as the talent coordinator on the world-wide smash hit television series, Lost. In her spare time she is writing a screenplay adaptation of a novel for development as a feature film.       

Jay Lichtman (producer)
  Jay Lichtman is Deputy Head of Production for Broadcast and Commercials at The Moving Picture Company (MPC) in London, which creates award-winning company high-end digital visual effects and computer animation for the feature film, advertising, music and television industries. Lichtman is responsible for overseeing the commercials production department, client liaison and project management on large budget broadcast commercials and music videos.

John Colley (director of photography)
  THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS is John Colley’s first short film as director of photography. Amongst his extensive credits as a gaffer are features such as The Duchess, The Edge of Love, Eastern Promises and Brick Lane. Tom Mison
         
  Theatre includes: When The Rain Stops Falling (Almeida Theatre); Hedda (Gate Theatre); Les Enfants Du Paradis, The Living Unknown Soldier (Arcola Theatre); The Collection (Tbilisi, Georgia); The Virgin Martry, Caesar and Pompey (Globe Theatre); Hamlet (Old Vic Theatre); The Crossing Path, The Revenge of Truth (National Theatre); Time On Fire (National Theatre and Magic Theatre, San Fransisco)Television includes: Lewis; Poirot: Third Girl; Lost In Austen; Secret Diary Of A Call Girl; The Amazing Mrs Pritchard; Waste Of Shame.Film includes: Out There; Venus; Heroes and Villains; L'Entente Cordiale; The Mysterious Island.Radio includes: The Deep Blue Sea; Shakespeare's Sonnets.
       
        Fleur Whitlock (production designer)
        Fleur Whitlock has worked as an art director on feature films including 10,000BC, Churchill: The Hollywood Years and The Libertine. Amongst her television credits are Jekyll,Coming Down the Mountain and Oliver Twist.        Amparo Pineiro (co-production designer)
        Amparo Pineiro’s art department credits include Shaking Dreamland, Popcorn and Guerilla. Michael O’Connor (costume designer)
        Michael O’Connor’s career as a costume designer includes the feature film, The Duchess for which he won an Academy Award and was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Technical Achievement. Amongst his other recent credits are Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Last King of Scotland and Brick Lane.

Daniel Phillips (hair and make-up designer)
  Daniel Phillips was awarded an Emmy for his design on the mini-series Bleak House and nominated for a BAFTA for hair and make-up for the feature film The Queen. His most recent credits are for The Edge of Love and The Duchess. His work will next be seen in Stephen Frears’ Cheri.

Richard Van Den Bergh (visual effects supervisor)
  Biog to be added        JMM Film
        In addition to THE CONTINUING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS, JMM Film has developed Jerry Engels, a feature script adaptation of Thomas Rogers’ acclaimed novels At the Shores and its sequel Jerry Engels. Also in development is a feature version of Pressure, based on Jeff Strand's horror/suspense novel of the same name.         John Meckler is the founder and operator of JMM Film which was founded in 2005 to produce quality filmed entertainment. Meckler was most recently a Creative Executive at The Film Department and began his career at Warner Independent Pictures        Kompass Pictures.
       
  Kompass Films is a new take on cinema. Born as a response to the pedestrian, Kompass Films spins in new directions; pointing the way toward cinematic change.  MPC
        The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is a world leading post-production facility creating high-end digital visual effects and computer animation for the feature film, advertising, music and television industries. A wholly owned subsidiary of Thomson, MPC is based in Soho, London, and housed in a purpose-built facility with a dedicated digital infrastructure. MPC has recently opened an office in Los Angeles.

MPC’s London and Los Angeles offices have been the lead post-production company for THE CONTIUNING AND LAMENTABLE SAGA OF THE SUICIDE BROTHERS.        International feature film work that MPC is proud to have worked on includes all visual effects work for Shekhar Kapur’ s Elizabeth: The Golden Age’. MPC have created effects for all the Harry Potter films, Wolfgang Petersen’s Poseidon, Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3, The Chronicles of Narnia; Prince Caspian for Andrew Adamson , Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 BC and David Dobkin’s Fred Claus. MPC have also created stylized CG work to match the stop motion projects Wallace and Gromit; The Curse of the Were-Rabbit for Nick Park and Steve Box and Corpse Bride for Tim Burton.

MPC’s bespoke Digital Lab has digitally colour-graded high profile movies including Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Nick Park and Steve Box’sWallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Other features to have been graded at MPC include Paul Weiland’s Sixty Six, Wolfgang Petersen’s epic Troy and Sunshine, 28 Days Later and Millions all directed by Danny Boyle.         MPC works on some of the most exciting commercials in the world today. By mixing fresh talent from different cultures, they have built a dynamic team of artists and a diverse creative portfolio.

Recent work has included spots such as Frank Budgen’s, Sony Bravia ‘Play-doh’, Pleix’s Bacardi ‘Blend and Assimilate’, Juan Cabral’s Cadbury’s Gorilla Moments’ Jonathan Glazer’s, Sony Bravia ‘Paint’, Johnny Green’s Audi, ‘Satellite’ and Nacho Gayan’s Guinness ‘Sky.’ The team were also instrumental in contemporary classics such as Anthony Minghella’s Guinness, ‘Redemption’, Volkswagen Golf GTi, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ (N-eo) and the BTAA ad of the year 2005, Stella Artois, ‘Ice Skating Priests’ by Jonathan Glazer as well as new campaigns for high profile brands such as Levis, ‘Moonbathe’ (Anthony Atanasio), Orange, ‘illuminations’ (Nicolai Fuglsig), Vodafone‘Work and Play’ (Dougal Wilson) and many of the ‘Planet 3’ (Traktor) series.

MPC also has a department dedicated to developing CG for TV programs and Music Videos, most recently they developed stunning animated characters and visual effects forSky One’s adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather’ directed by Vadim Jean and visual effects for the Killer’s Bones’ promo directed by Tim Burton. Other recent TV credits includes the development of the new Channel 4 screen idents, Auschwitz, The Nazi’s and the Final Solution, directed by Laurence Rees for BBC History and Virtual History – The Secret Plot to Kill Hitler’ directed by David McNab through Tiger Aspect for The Discovery Channel.        Additional VFX work:
        Glassworks        Important Looking Pirates
       
  Important Looking Pirates was founded by the facility's lead artists Niklas Jacobson and Yafei Wu. Important Looking Pirates is a digital animation and effects facility located in the charming Old Town of Stockholm, Sweden. With 410 square meters it employs more than 50 artists and support staff.
         
          Utilizing the industry's latest technology and in-house software development ILP’s award-winning artists provide high-end digital animation and effects for commercials, broadcast, promos and feature films.