Rosamund Pike and Christopher Plummer Join Simon Pegg In HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS Cast

Rosamund Pike (AN EDUCATION, JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN, CLASH OF THE TITANS) and Academy Award Winner Christopher Plummer (BEGINNERS, THE LAST STATION, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS) have joined the cast of director Peter Chelsom’s upcoming drama comedy HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS in which Simon Pegg (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -GHOST PROTOCOL, PAUL) will play the lead. The announcement was made by producers Judy Tossell of Egoli Tossell Film (THE LAST STATION, CARLOS, BLACK DEATH) and Christine Haebler of Screen Siren Pictures (HARD CORE LOGO, DAYDREAM NATION, FOREVERLAND). The Solution Entertainment Group (“The Solution”) is handling international rights to the film and will be selling to buyers in Toronto; United Talent Agency are representing US rights.

Adapted for the screen from the bestselling novel of the same name by François Lelord, the film is a German/Canadian co-production produced by Egoli Tossell Film and Screen Siren Pictures currently in pre-production and set to shoot in January 2013. Wild Bunch Germany are co-producing and distributing in German-speaking Europe and Entertainment One have acquired all rights for Canada.

Simon Pegg plays Hector, an eccentric yet irresistible London psychiatrist in crisis: he’s going nowhere and his patients are just not getting any happier! Until one day, armed with buckets of courage and child-like curiosity, Hector breaks out of his sheltered vacuum of a life into a global quest to find out if happiness exists. More importantly, if it exists for Hector. And so begins an exotic, dangerous and hysterical journey.

Rosamund Pike has been cast as Hector’s long-term girlfriend, CLARA. English-born Pike shot to fame in 2002 as Bond Girl Miranda Frost in DIE ANOTHER DAY. This was followed by a slew of roles such as PROMISED LAND (2004) and THE LIBERTINE (2004), (for which she won the Best Supporting Actress award at The British Independent Film Awards), and Jane Bennett in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. It was her exceptional performances in: AN EDUCATION (2009), MADE IN DAGENHAM (2010), and the lead opposite Paul Giamatti in BARNEY’S VERSION (2010) that cemented her reputation as one of the top British actresses of her generation. As she continued her stage work in England, Pike appeared in the spy spoof JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (2011) and inhabited the role of Andromeda in the sci-fi epic CLASH OF THE TITANS (2012). She has since returned to action films with the female lead opposite Tom Cruise in JACK REACHER (2012).

Christopher Plummer will appear as Professor Coreman, leading guru for Happiness Studies at UCLA. Plummer’s 60-year acting career includes many hits on stage, in movies and on TV, plus an Oscar win at age 82, but he may still be best known for the role of the stormy Captain Georg von Trapp in the 1965 movie THE SOUND OF MUSIC. He has been nominated seven times for a Tony Award, winning twice. He has twice won Emmy Awards and was finally nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Russian author Leo Tolstoy in the 2009 film THE LAST STATION; in 2012 he won the Academy Award as best supporting actor for his role in the film BEGINNERS.

Simon Pegg shot to international fame following his stand out performances in SHAUN OF THE DEAD, STAR TREK, HOT FUZZ, PAUL and most recently MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL opposite Tom Cruise reprising his role from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III and Thompson in Steven Spielberg’s THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN. Pegg is currently in post production on the next STAR TREK movie currently untitled and in pre-production on Edgar Wright’s THE WORLD’S END.

British-born Chelsom began his directing career with break out British films HEAR MY SONG and FUNNY BONES. These were followed by a string of romantic, feelgood hits including SERENDIPITY starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, SHALL WE DANCE? starring Richard Gere and the award-winning THE MIGHTY starring Sharon Stone. His last two films SHALL WE DANCE? and HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE enjoyed a combined worldwide box office of over US$ 325m.

This will be Chelsom’s third film with Academy Award winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (TOPSY TURVY, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, CASINO ROYALE). Award winning director of photography Hagen Bogdanski is also set to join the filmmaking team. His credits include the Academy Award winning THE LIVES OF OTHERS, YOUNG VICTORIA and Madonna’s W.E.

Egoli Tossell Film is the Berlin based production company helmed by Jens Meurer and Judy Tossell and backed by Film House Germany. This past year’s (co)-productions include Toronto’s closing gala film: Paul Andrew Williams’ SONG FOR MARION, Jon Baird’s adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s cult novel FILTH and Ron Howard’s Formula One drama RUSH. Other recent credits include the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated THE LAST STATION, Olivier Assayas’ Golden Globe winner CARLOS THE JACKAL and Chris Smith’s BLACK DEATH.

Screen Siren Pictures is an established award winning Vancouver based production company that focuses on international co-productions. Helmed by Trish Dolman and Christine Haebler they have recently produced projects for Entertainment One, Alliance Films, Anchor Bay, Hasbro, BBC, A&E, ARTE, and Channel 4 their most recent productions include DAYDREAM NATION, FOREVERLAND, CLUE and ECO PIRATE.