Roman Polanski‘s The Ghost Writer is going into the running as the favourite at the 2010 European Film Awards. The political thriller produced by Studio Babelsberg was nominated no less than seven times for the awards which will be presented in Tallinn (Estonia) on 4 December, the European Film Academy announced last Saturday. The film, which was shot almost completely in Germany, has chances of awards in the following categories: European Film, European Director (Roman Polanski), European Actor (Ewan McGregor), European Screenwriter (Robert Harris & Roman Polanski), European Editor (Hervé de Luze), European Production Designer (Albrecht Konrad) and European Composer (Alexandre Desplat).
Dr. Carl Woebcken, CEO of Studio Babelsberg AG and co-producer of The Ghost Writer: "We whole-heartedly congratulate Roman Polanski, producers Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde, all the nominated creatives as well as our crew members. Seven nominations are fantastic proof of the quality on offer from Germany as a film hub.“
One has to have in mind that the film’s story is set completely on the East Coast of the USA and in England, while the film itself was shot in Germany at wonderful locations like Sylt and Usedom, Berlin-Brandenburg and in the Babelsberg studios.
Christoph Fisser
Studio Babelsberg AG
Co-producer The Ghost Writer
Christoph Fisser, board member of Studio Babelsberg AG and also co-producer, adds: „One has to have in mind that the film’s story is set completely on the East Coast of the USA and in England, while the film itself was shot in Germany at wonderful locations like Sylt and Usedom, Berlin-Brandenburg and in the Babelsberg studios.“
The suspense-laden thriller with Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams in the leads had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale. Roman Polanski received the Silver Bear for Best Direction. The Ghost Writer is now the second collaboration by Studio Babelsberg with star director Roman Polanski: the studio had previously produced the Oscar-winning film The Pianist in 2001 with Adrien Brody in the lead.
The Ghost Writer is based on the novel Ghost by the bestseller author Robert Harris who also wrote the screenplay together with Polanski. The film is a German-French-British co- production between the partners RP Productions (F), Studio Babelsberg (D) and Runteam (UK). Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde produced the film. Dr. Carl Woebcken, Christoph Fisser and Henning Molfenter, all from Studio Babelsberg, and Timothy Burrill from Runteam serve as the co-producers. Studio Babelsberg was the sole executive production company.
The German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Wirtschaftliche Filmförderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern supported the film.
