Eager to reclaim their 2008 awards season glory with “Slumdog Millionaire,” last month it was reported that Fox Searchlight was booting up another India-based film in the shape of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”
Based on the book “These Fine Things” by Deborah Moggach, the project “is a comedy of Eastern and Western manners with the shrewd Indian executive who sees a gap in the market when he notices that a lot of elderly folk in the UK are farmed out to dismal retirement developments. He hits on the idea of converting an old guest house in Bangalore.” We presume life lessons learned and imparted soon follow. Snooze. Anyway, Julie Christie, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Peter O’Toole and Dev Patel were all in talks to join the picture, with awards season veteran John Madden (“Shakespeare In Love”) set to direct but it appears that some of the talent might be tweaked before it gets in front of cameras.
Baz Bamigboye is reporting that Maggie Smith is now in negotiations to join the project with Judi Dench which leaves us to speculate that Julie Christie is no longer in the running and/or has bowed out. While we’re big fans of Christie, Smith keeps the Oscar-caliber quotient high.
The film, which will be shot in India, is set to go into pre-production shortly and Madden and his producer Graham Broadbent have already been location scouting. With the project building steam, the cast should be confirmed very soon and the film should go in front of cameras later this year.
