We’re literally about to head out the door to the BFI London Film Festival press screening of “Weekend,” the second feature by British director Andrew Haigh, and we’re firmly looking forward to it; ever since its premiere at SXSW earlier in the year, the indie gay romance has picked up glowing reviews, including ours, and has been doing quite nicely at the U.S. box office since it opened a few weeks back. It’s definitely launched Haigh, a former assistant editor who worked on the likes of “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down“, into the consciousness of film fans, and coincidentally, this morning brings news of his next project.
Screen Daily reports that Haigh has penned the script to “Simon Is Waiting,” a drama he’s set up at Film4 (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Attack The Block“), which will reunite him with “Weekend” producer Tristan Goligher, and shooting is planned to start next year. The film will see the director cross the pond, for a Los Angeles-set tale of a British actor who’s starring in an American TV show, who’s waiting for the potentially life-changing results of a medical test.
Haigh told Screen, “It’s essentially a two-hour existential crisis over that period of waiting, as his relationships collapse.” A two-hour existential crisis? Watch out “Avatar,” there’s a new box-office champ in town! Joking aside, this sounds pretty good, and exactly the kind of thing we’d like to see Haigh follow his big break with. There’s no news on casting yet, but we imagine that, with Film4’s might behind the project, they’ll be looking for bigger names than the newcomers who appeared in “Weekend.” In the meantime, that film is on limited release in the U.S. right now, and screens at the LFF on Saturday night, before going on release in the U.K. on November 4th.
