Cameras have started rolling on Bharat Nalluri’s highly anticipated FLAVIA, it was announced today by Protagonist Pictures’ CEO Dave Bishop. The company reveals an exclusive first look for the family mystery adventure, ahead of AFM where Protagonist Pictures is continuing international sales on the film. CAA Media Finance are handling US rights and arranged financing for the film.
Based on the New York Times bestselling series of books by Alan Bradley, Flavia is directed by Nalluri (The Man Who Invented Christmas, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, “Boy Swallows Universe”), and stars BAFTA and Emmy Award winner Martin Freeman (Black Panther, “Sherlock”, the Hobbit trilogy, “Fargo”), Molly Belle Wright (Deep Water, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever), BAFTA winner Toby Jones (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Karan Gill (Netflix’s “The Decameron”), Annette Badland (“Midsomer Murders”, “Ted Lasso”), and Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee Jonathan Pryce (Netflix’s The Two Popes, “Slow Horses”).
The film follows Flavia de Luce: Amateur Detective; Master Poisoner; Eleven Years Old. When she finds a dead body at her decaying British manor house and her father is accused of the murder, Flavia dives into her own wild and fearless investigation, unearthing long held family secrets and pitting herself against the true murderer.
Susan Coyne (“Daisy Jones and the Six,” The Man Who Invented Christmas) adapted the script from “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia De Luce Mystery,” which is the first book from the mystery novel series that to date has sold over six million copies worldwide.
Flavia is produced by Robert Mickelson (The Man Who Invented Christmas) for Mystic Point, Paula Mazur and Mitchell Kaplan (Guernsey and Literary Potato Peel Pie Society, Nim’s Island) for Mazur Kaplan, Chris Curling (The Miracle Club, Falling) for Zephyr Films, and executive produced by Protagonist Pictures in association with Aperture Media Partners, Pigasus Pictures, Pinky Promise and with the participation of Telefilm Canada.
Executive producers include David Leiwant; Protagonist Pictures’ Dave Bishop, George Hamilton and James Pugh; John Marshall, Zachary Spicer for Pigasus; Aperture Media Partners’ Jared Underwood, Andrew C. Robinson and Colin Marshall; Pinky Promise’s Jessamine Burgum, Kara Durrett; Joe Iacono, Anya Ryzhenkova; Elevation Pictures; Laurie May and Noah Segal; Julia Stuart and Sabrina Parmar for Sky.
Protagonist Pictures already secured a slew of international deals including British broadcaster Sky who has landed U.K. rights, BIM for Italy, Cinemundo for Portugal, M2 for Eastern Europe, ACME for Baltics. Rakuten have picked up rights for Japan, and Echo Lake for airlines. Elevation will release in Canada.
“We’re beyond excited that filming has begun, and we are able to share an initial glimpse into Flavia’s world,” said Protagonist’s CCO George Hamilton. “Molly is surrounded by such an amazing cast and under Bharat’s skilled direction, the first of the Flavia de Luce mystery stories is bursting into life as a thoroughly entertaining film that will appeal to the whole family.”
“The world has already fallen in love with FLAVIA – more than six million readers young and old from over 40 territories. We are so delighted to now bring the audience for this fabulous character to the screen with our partners Protagonist Pictures, Sky and CAA,” say producers Paula Mazur and Robert Mickelson.
The eight-week shoot will wrap in late November.
Protagonist Pictures AFM slate includes the Scottish family drama Glenrothan, starring Alan Cumming and Brian Cox in his feature directorial debut; Philippa Lowthorpe’s H Is For Hawk, starring Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson; the Venice, TIFF and San Sebastian selection Kill the Jockey, directed by Luis Ortega and selected as Argentina’s feature film contender for the 2025 Academy Awards; Samir Oliveros’ TIFF title The Luckiest Man in America, starring Emmy and Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser; the genre-bending comedy Sister Midnight, which recently screened at the London Film Festival and was nominated for Cannes’ Camera D’Or; and from directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, the political horror-comedy Rumours, which debuted at Cannes before going on to screen at Toronto, San Sebastian, New York and London Film Festivals.
ABOUT MAZUR KAPLAN
Paula Mazur and Mitchell Kaplan / Paula and Mitchell are founding partners of The Mazur Kaplan Company, bringing books to screen. Features include LET HIM GO (Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Lesley Manville), ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES (Elle Fanning, Justice Smith), THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY (Lily James, Michiel Huisman), THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS (Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce). Other credits include NIM’S ISLAND (Jodi Foster, Gerard Butler, Abigail Breslin) and CORRINA, CORRINA (Whoopi Goldberg). Mazur Kaplan is currently readying THE SILENT WIFE starring Nicole Kidman for Amazon. Their films have won Academy, Emmy and Ace Awards.
ABOUT ROBERT MICKELSON
Robert Mickelson / Currently developing the award-winning novel BEAR with Martin Scorsese directing, starring Cate Blanchett. Produced THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS (Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce) on many top ten lists for Best Christmas Movies of All Time. Among others, HARD CHOICES (John Sayles, Spalding Grey) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and TRAVELLER (Mark Wahlberg, Bill Paxton) premiered at South by Southwest. In television, he has developed and Executive Produced numerous pilots and MOW’s for ABC, Fox, Showtime, HBO, CBC, CTV, Global and Corus.
ABOUT CHRIS CURLING
Chris Curling / His recent films include Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club starring Maggie Smith, Laura Linney and Kathy Bates; Mary Harron’s Daliland starring Ben Kingsley, Barbara Sukowa and Chris Briney; and Falling, Viggo Mortensen’s first film as a writer-director; it stars Lance Henriksen, Viggo and Laura Linney amongst others. Chris launched his own company, Zephyr Films, when he left the BBC Drama Series 20 years ago. He has produced more than 30 feature films since, among them is The Last Station starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy, nominated for Academy, Golden Globe and Spirit Awards.
ABOUT PROTAGONIST PICTURES
Led by Dave Bishop alongside George Hamilton and James Pugh, Protagonist Pictures is a sales, finance, and production company with a proven track record in outstanding films and commercial successes. Based in the UK, the company handles films from around the world, always maintaining a strong focus on filmmakers with exceptional vision and storytelling skills. Protagonist Pictures has championed groundbreaking filmmakers since its inception, including Chloe Zhao, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sean Baker, Rose Glass, Taika Waititi and Pawel Pawlikowski.
Protagonist Pictures just had three films premiering in the Fall festivals, with Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, premiering in Venice to stellar reviews, Luis Ortega’s “Kill the Jockey, starring Nahuel Perez Biscayart and Ursula Corbero, playing in Venice in Official Competition and TIFF, and “The Luckiest Man in America”, by Samir Oliveros, starring Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins and Shamier Anderson, also debuting at TIFF to sterling reviews.
The current slate also includes Adam Scott’s edge of your seat thriller “Double Booked”, starring Adam Scott, Zazie Beetz, Sterling K Brown and Alexandra Daddario, and the charming NY set comedy “Encore”, produced by Temple Hill and directed by Simon Curtis, with Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Henry Winkler and Don Johnson.
Protagonist Pictures also handled international sales Eli Craig’s highly anticipated horror adaptation “Clown in a Cornfield”, from the producers of “Smile”.
Other recent titles include Sundance and Berlin film festival selection “The Outrun” starring Saoirse Ronan and Paapa Essiedu, Thordur Palsson’s elevated horror “The Damned”, starring Odessa Young and Joe Cole, and premiering at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, both of which Protagonist also executive produced. The ensemble comedy “Rumours,” directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, led by Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival., and “Sister Midnight”, starring Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak and Chhaya Kadam, and directed by Karan Kandhari, which also premiered in Cannes at the Director’s Fortnight.
