Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander (Firebrand, The Danish Girl), Golden Globe nominee Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Jodie Turner-Smith (Tron: Ares), multi-award winner Bill Nighy (Living) and two-time Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Gillian Anderson (Sex Education) will voice starring roles in the upcoming family fantasy animation epic, The Turning Door, written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker and VFX supervisor Nicholas Ashe Bateman (The Wanting Mare).
The film is produced by Christine D’Souza Gelb of 2AM (Babygirl, Past Lives) with Bateman and Hunter Hall of Maere Studios (An Almost Christmas Story), and will feature original music and songs written by People Museum’s Claire Givens (Mother Mary) and Bateman. Production is currently underway.
Mister Smith Entertainment is onboard for international sales and will introduce footage from Turning Doors to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market. 2AM is handling North American sales.
“The pictures, places and songs of The Turning Door have been with me since I was a child. Thematically, its world is a combination of the ones which have filled me with wonder since I was little: the Neverlands, Wonderlands and all those adventures in far-off fantasies,” said Bateman. “Technically, the film is the result of the past 15 years of trying to make stories — while developing the tools, the dreams and the incredible artists needed to pursue them. More than ever, it’s important to believe that independent animation made by passionate artists and a dream cast has a place in the world; entirely new cinematic experiences — made by people — without any generative AI.”
Synopsis: As a party rages downstairs, young Ariadlyn is sent to bed. Escaping her bedtime, she slips into her parents’ room, where she discovers an ornate wooden box, opening a door to a magical world called The Turning. To find her way back home and save her parents — now frozen in the real world — Ariadlyn must seek out a sorceress and her crystal vial. Along the way, she will encounter giants, whales, armies, shapeshifters and acrobatic monkeys as she discovers what it means to grow up.
The Turning Door is Bateman’s second feature film, following the sci-fi fantasy The Wanting Mare (2020). He is the founder of award-winning VFX and animation house Maere Studios, designing effects for films such as The Green Knight, Origin, Hocus Pocus 2, Mother Mary, Peter Pan and Wendy and An Almost Christmas Story.
“Anyone with a heart and with an appreciation of the magic of filmmaking, cannot help but fall in love with this film. It has the makings of a classic for all audiences for all time,” commented Mister Smith Entertainment CEO David Garrett.
Vikander is represented by UTA. Dornan is repped by UTA, Sloane Offer Weber & Dern, and Relevant. Turner-Smith is represented by UTA, 111 Media, The Lede Company and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Nighy is represented by UTA, Independent Talent Group, QVoice, Public Eye Communications and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein. Anderson is represented by UTA and Independent Talent Group. Bateman is represented by UTA, 2am, and Granderson Des Rochers.
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