HAMMER Signs JARED HARRIS To Star In THE QUIET ONES

Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer and Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, Co-Chairmen of Exclusive Media, Hammer’s parent company, announced today that Jared Harris has signed on to star as Professor Joseph Coupland in THE QUIET ONES.

THE QUIET ONES is a supernatural thriller/horror to be directed by John Pogue (QUARANTINE 2) which James Gay-Rees (SENNA, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP) will produce in association with TPSC Films. With the story and original screenplay by Tom DeVille, revisions by Craig Rosenberg, Oren Moverman and most recently John Pogue, the film is currently in pre-production and will start shooting in June 2012 in the UK.

Inspired by true events, THE QUIET ONES tells the story of an unorthodox, but charismatic professor who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment:  to create a poltergeist from negative human energy.

THE QUIET ONES marks Hammer’s next production after the worldwide box office hit, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, starring Daniel Radcliffe, which has taken over $120 million at the box-office worldwide to date.

Jared Harris recently starred IN SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS and hit TV series Mad Men. He will next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s LINCOLN, currently in post-production.

Exclusive Media’s President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions, Tobin Armbrust, is overseeing production alongside Director of Development, Shira Rockowitz. Alex Walton, President of International Sales and Distribution, is handling international sales. TPSC Film’s President, Steven Chester Prince, is a producer on the project for the newly formed independent film division of The Traveling Picture Show Company.

John Pogue said: “Jared Harris is an extraordinarily talented actor and I’m thrilled that he will be playing the key role of Professor Joseph Coupland, who led his most ambitious students in a notorious 1974 experiment to create a poltergeist.  Jared has the perfect blend of charisma, intelligence and wit that the part of Professor Coupland demands, and I’m excited to watch him bring the role to life.”

Simon Oakes, President & CEO of Hammer and Vice Chairman of Exclusive Media said: “THE QUIET ONES is set to be an incredibly chilling and sinister picture that we are proud to be a part of.  It’s another unique horror movie which we believe will appeal to audiences around the world.”

Exclusive Media is a major force in the production and international distribution arena. Recent production titles include the box office hit THE WOMAN IN BLACK starring Daniel Radcliffe currently in theaters nationwide through CBS Films, and George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH produced by Smokehouse Pictures and co-produced by Exclusive Media with Cross Creek Pictures.

Exclusive Media’s current production slate also includes Ron Howard’s epic RUSH starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl and produced with production partners Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Working Title Films, Brian Grazer, and Revolution Films; END OF WATCH, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera; SO UNDERCOVER, starring Miley Cyrus; SNITCH, starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon in post-production; and BONESHAKER, to be produced with Cross Creek Pictures.

Recent titles from Exclusive Media’s documentary film division, Spitfire Pictures, include the Academy Award winning UNDEFEATED currently in release through The Weinstein Company; the Grammy Award winning FOO FIGHTERS: BACK AND FORTH produced in association with Allentown Productions; and Martin Scorsese’s award winning GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD produced by Martin Scorsese, Nigel Sinclair and Olivia Harrison.

Additionally, Exclusive Media represents the international rights to a number of high profile third party productions which currently include THERESE from producers Mickey Liddell and William Horberg, starring Jessica Lange, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton and Oscar Isaac; OUTRUN from writer/director Dax Shepard who also stars with Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold;  the ensemble DISCONNECT also produced by Horberg and Liddell with Jennifer Hilton; and Sundance favorite ROBOT & FRANK starring Frank Langella.

Originally founded in 1934, legendary British film studio Hammer has delivered a hugely successful run of films over the years includingDracula, Frankenstein Created Woman, One Million Years B.C. and The Vampire Lovers. Since 2008, the company has been part of Exclusive Media, which is reinvigorating this beloved global brand through investment across both traditional and new media.

Not in production since the 1980s, Hammer marked their return to features in 2010 with the release of the critically acclaimed Let Me In, an adaptation of the highly praised Swedish film Låt den rätte komma in. The film was written and directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and stars Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road).

In 2011, Hammer released Antti Jokinen’s The Resident starring two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry,Million Dollar Baby), Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hammer legend Sir Christopher Lee, as well as the critically lauded Wake Wood directed by David Keating and starring Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle and Timothy Spall.

February 2012 saw the theatrical release of Hammer’s first ever feature ghost story The Woman In Black, directed by James Watkins, adapted by Jane Goldman from the book by Susan Hill, and starring Daniel Radcliffe. The film has taken over 100m worldwide making it one of the biggest indie horror films.

Hammer recently launched a new publishing imprint through Random House which has already published eight books. In February 2012 the imprint published its first original title with the much-praised “The Greatcoat” by Helen Dunmore, which will be followed by an original novel about the Pendle witches, by Jeanette Winterson, and “Coldbrook” by Tim Lebbon. Also publishing in 2012 are further new novelisations of classic Hammer films.

Hammer is also broadening its reach, with plans for a Hammer Theatre of Horror and a Hammer visitor attraction, as well as continuing to honour the company’s legacy with re-releases of classic films, official histories, merchandise, screenings and social media engagement.