Skyfall and 1917 director Sam Mendes has announced his next feature for Searchlight Pictures called Empire of Light. Mendes is set to direct the project with Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown) in final negotiations to star. This will be the duo's first film together. Empire of Light also finds Mendes reteaming with cinematographer Roger Deakins, who handily won an Oscar for his work on 1917.
In addition to directing the film, Mendes also wrote the script, which revolves around a love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s. Mendes will also produce alongside Pippa Harris for Neal Street Productions. Mendes' last film, 1917, earned 10 Oscar nominations and was a box office burner with $384 million worth of tickets sold worldwide.
As for Colman, she's appeared in one smash-hit after another with projects like The Favourite, The Crown, Les Misérables, and Fleabag under her belt. After winning her first Oscar for her performance as Queen Anne in Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite, she's earned numerous nominations for the most recent season of The Crown. Soon, Colman can be heard voicing Pal for the animated feature The Mitchell's vs. The Machines. Due to release on April 30, 2021, the film revolves around a quirky, dysfunctional family's road trip that lands them in the middle of a robot apocalypse.