Rolls-Royce film has a director

By CARSIFU | 1 February 2016


LONDON: Award winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia, director of box office breaking films Senna and Oscar nominated Amy, is set to direct the story of Rolls-Royce with Martin Scorsese and Anthony Haas as producers of the feature film entitled Silver Ghost.

Asif said, “What struck me when I read Silver Ghost was how this true story weaves together the lives of five remarkable people that changed the destiny of the Western world and I am delighted to be working together with the legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese and Anthony Haas to bring it to the screen.”

Academy Award winning director Scorsese remarked, "I’ve been captivated by the story of Silver Ghost ever since Lord Richard Attenborough came to me with the project, and I’m thrilled that we’re going to be seeing it through.  It’s a project that requires a great and innovative storyteller, and that’s exactly what we have with Asif Kapadia.”

asif


Developed by the late Academy Award winning director Attenborough and producer Haas, Silver Ghost tells the epic story of the iconic motor car, born out of an extraordinary odd-couple relationship between the maverick genius of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce, marking the genesis of aviation and all the courage and daredevilry that went with it.

Set at the turn of the last century, it delineates the fascinating story of Rolls and Royce and their close friendship with motoring pioneer Lord John Douglas-Scott Montagu, his relationship with his beautiful wife, Cis, and his secret affair with his secretary and mistress, Eleanor Velasco Thornton. Eleanor was the inspiration for the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, designed by British artist and sculptor, Charles Sykes that to this day adorns all Rolls-Royce cars.

Eleanor Thornton
Eleanor Thornton.


“When Richard Attenborough was asked how he would like to be remembered, he replied ‘as a storyteller,’” said Haas.  “Asif also knows how to tell a deeply personal and epic story and Silver Ghost is an amazing untold tale of the highs and lows of what makes us human.”

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