Helen Mirren arrives in Cape Town
Oscar winning actress Dame Helen Mirren has landed in the mother city as the filming season begins in South Africa. Mirren arrived on Monday morning on September 8 to shoot her latest film, an international thriller called Eye in the Sky directed by South African director Gavin Hood.
The star will join cast members Aaron Paul and Colin Firth in the production, which is expected to begin in South Africa on 12 September 2014.
The film was delayed due to The South African Civil Aviation Authority’s (SACAA) stance on aircraft drones. Timeslive reported that The SA Civil Aviation Authority had not given permission for the real drones to be used in the film to fly in South African airspace.
But it seems like the problem was solved and the thriller will begin production. Firth will star in the film set in the morally murky world of military drones.
Guy Hibbert, the writer of Channel 4 series Complicit, has penned the screenplay for Eye in the Sky.
Hibbert’s script follows a military intelligence officer charged with remotely commanding a top-secret drone operation to capture a group of terrorists from their safe-house in Nairobi.
Oliver Hirschbiegel, the director of Oscar nominated film, Downfall, was previously attached to take charge of the movie before it was announced that Hood would direct it. Firth’s own Raindog Films is part of the production set up for the current take.
"The use of unmanned aircraft in modern warfare and in the so-called ‘war on terror’ poses critical questions for us all," said Firth. "Raindog was launched with the hope of making challenging, thoughtful films, and I’m pleased to be a part of an exploration into such a crucial issue.
