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NEWS
ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT WILL 'ALLOW ROBIN MAUGHAM'S VISION TO BE REALISED'
03 June, 2022
In yet another twist in the long history of the film of The Wrong People, pre-production has now been extended to 2023. "This will allow for further investment and for key personnel, unavailable this year because of pressure of work, to become involved," says David McGillivray. Unfortunately, a scheduling conflict means producers Michael Knowles and Andy Paton have withdrawn from the production, which will now be shot partly in and around London. The engagement of a new producer will be announced soon by Pathétique Films and Peccadillo Pictures.
THE WRONG PEOPLE PLANS SHOOT IN SUMMER 2022
21 February, 2022
After a delay of two years caused by COVID-19, Pathétique Films and Peccadillo Pictures are proud to confirm the start of principal photography of The Wrong People is planned for summer 2022. The production is set to be based at the campus of Staffordshire University, HQ of NOW Films, where Michael Knowles and Andy Paton have already made several features. “Running Naked” and “Book of Love” are currently on release.
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FIRST PUBLIC SCRIPT READING TO BE RESCHEDULED
19 March, 2020
The coronavirus epidemic meant the full-cast script reading planned for the Phoenix Arts Club in Charing Cross, London on Saturday 21st March 2020 has been postponed.
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Producer/Director David McGillivray said, "It is with great regret that the reading of The Wrong People has been cancelled. We have fought tooth and nail to make this happen but we must submit to the inevitable. Peter Benedict had prepared a wonderful production, complete with music and visuals, and scenes already rehearsed were intensely moving."
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NEW FILM HIGHLIGHTS AUTHOR'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEX SLAVERY
15 February, 2020
Peccadillo Pictures and Pathetique Films have announced that pre-production has started on the eagerly-anticipated film of The Wrong People. Robin Maugham’s novel follows a repressed English schoolmaster lured into a web of intrigue in 1960’s Tangier. The story was inspired by the author's own travels in Africa.
In his maiden speech in the House of Lords in 1960, Maugham described “sheikhs who can obtain sexual satisfaction only with very young children” and revealed he had bought a slave in Timbuktu for the equivalent of £37.50. He made this transaction and photographed the money changing hands “entirely in order to come back with the actual proof that slavery exists in the Sahara.”
The man, Ibrahim, was freed. Maugham wrote about his experiences in Slaves of Timbuktu (1961).
The film is being directed by David McGillivray. “Maugham created a moral dilemma and handled it brilliantly, but the subject was so taboo that a film was out of the question,” he says. “Today, we are aware of what’s been covered up for years, so the time is right to remind audiences of what this great writer said so long ago.” McGillivray has written the screenplay in collaboration with actor-director Peter Benedict.
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PRE-PRODUCTION STARTS ON NEW PECCADILLO PICTURES FILM
10 January, 2020
ROBIN MAUGHAM’S CONTROVERSIAL NOVEL TO BE FILMED AFTER 50 YEAR DELAY
Peccadillo Pictures is excited to announce that award-winning producer David McGillivray will write and direct his first feature film at the age of 72. The Wrong People, based on the novel by the author of The Servant, will commence principal photography in the UK and Morocco in 2022.
“The subject was so taboo that a film had been out of the question," says McGillivray. "Now, because we’re so aware of what’s been covered up for years, I want to remind audiences of what this great writer said so long ago. In addition to the issues raised, The Wrong People is also a superb suspense thriller.”
McGillivray first became aware of Maugham’s novel in the 1970s when he was writing House of Whipcord and Frightmare for director Pete Walker. Walker’s friend, former Hollywood star Sal Mineo, intended to make his directorial debut with The Wrong People. Mineo commissioned two script adaptions from different writers but was unhappy with both and raising further finance proved to be difficult.
Original plans to film the book ended with Mineo’s murder in 1976. But 40 years later, McGillivray read a new biography of the actor that included a chapter on his doomed efforts to bring Maugham’s shocking adventure to the screen. After re-reading The Wrong People, McGillivray secured the film rights and wrote a screenplay that has the blessing of Mineo’s former partner Courtney Burr and Maugham’s former partner William Lawrence.
Somerset Maugham said his nephew Robin’s novel was “the first for years that I have been obliged to read straight through at one sitting.” The press agreed. “Grippingly told”, said the Sunday Times. “A gripping thriller” - Sunday Express. “Undeniably shuddery” - Daily Telegraph. The book has been re-issued by Valancourt Books.
McGillivray’s autobiography, Little Did You Know, received outstanding reviews when it was published in August 2019.