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Not released in the U.S. until 2006, Jean Pierre Melville’s 1969 feature “Army of Shadows” is considered something of a controversial masterpiece as it offered a bleak and unromantic view of the French Resistance based on real experience.
Now, it’s making a comeback with production company Two Cities Television, StudioCanal and the UK’s Channel 4 teaming for a new take on the story which drastically changes things up.
Rather than a period piece set in Nazi-occupied France, this will be a contemporary piece set in a near-future authoritarian Britain under de facto American occupation.
In the six-episode series, a former British Army officer builds a covert resistance cell from scratch as young recruits fight to reclaim their country and their futures. The project is being made with the support of the estates of both Melville and Joseph Kessel, the latter’s 1943 book inspired the original film.
Speaking with Deadline this week, Two Cities Television bosses Michael Jackson and Stephen Wright talked about the series, confirming that filming is well underway but details of the ‘big’ cast are under wraps.
Wright says there’s a global feeling right now, especially in the UK, of political discontent:
“There’s something out there, something in the zeitgeist. We live in a very febrile political atmosphere and we live in an atmosphere particularly in England where violence on the street can happen very quickly. I’d hope that’s why it resonates. People are feeling frustrated and not heard.”
Ronan Bennett, who handled the recent adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s “The Day of the Jackal,” serves as showrunner on the series.
Now, Europe Says filming took place in Lark Lane in Liverpool this week with set photos from the shoot popping up. Scenes being filmed showed armed officers emerged from a blacked-out van outside the Old Police Station.
Two Cities is also working on “The Yank” which sees “Star Trek” alums Kate Mulgrew and Colm Meaney teaming in the story of a seasoned NYPD detective (Mulgrew) taking a break on Ireland’s west coast, only to be drawn into a murder investigation involving a climate activist.
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