Cowes-based writer and actor Joe Bone has a new reason to celebrate, with news that his latest script will become the first feature film directed by Mackenzie Crook.
The project, currently titled Mars Express, will star Toby Jones – Crook’s co-star from the much-loved BBC series Detectorists – in the lead role.
A true story of ambition and unlikely success
Joe’s screenplay draws on Colin Pillinger’s book My Life On Mars: The Beagle 2 Diaries, telling the remarkable true story of how Pillinger and his wife Judith set out in the late 1990s to land a spacecraft on Mars.
The couple were English farmers with no background in spacecraft engineering.
They assembled an unconventional team and took on NASA in a mission that came remarkably close to succeeding.
Strong production backing
Big Talk Studios and Altitude are producing the film, developed in association with BBC Film, with Altitude handling the theatrical release across the UK and Ireland.
Filming is expected to take place in the UK later this year, with a Britpop soundtrack providing the musical backdrop.
Island talent with an impressive track record
Joe Bone grew up on the Isle of Wight and has built a substantial career across writing and performance.
He holds the Guinness World Record for the most characters performed by a single actor in a single theatre production, clinching the record in 2011 with 80 different characters across the Bane trilogy at the Soho Theatre.
His film work includes the 2018 thriller The Vanishing, which he co-wrote with Celyn Jones, starring Peter Mullan and Gerard Butler and directed by Kristoffer Nyholm.
A notable director and celebrated cast
Crook is best known as co-creator, writer, director and star of Detectorists, for which he won a BAFTA.
His other credits include the BBC series Small Prophets and acting roles in The Office and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Jones brings his own strong track record to the lead role, with recent prominent performances in Mr Burton and Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Source: Screen Daily
