Kevin Macdonald

Kevin Macdonald

Principal photography for Kevin Macdonald’s big screen adaptation of Meg Rosoff’s multi award winning novel How I Live Now starts today for 8 weeks in England and Wales.

Starring Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones, Hanna), the youngest ever BAFTA award-winner Harley Bird (‘Peppa Pig’) and British Independent Film Award nominee George MacKay (The Boys Are Back, Hunky Dory), How I Live Now is the latest film from Academy Award winning director Kevin Macdonald (One Day In September, Marley, The Last King of Scotland). 

The screenplay is written by Jeremy Brock (The Eagle, The Last King of Scotland) Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, ‘Red Riding Trilogy’), and Penelope Skinner ('The Village Bike' at the Royal Court, ‘Fresh Meat’).

Daisy (Ronan), a teenager from New York, is sent to the English countryside for the summer to stay with cousins. 

She soon immerses herself in a dreamy pastoral idyll as she falls madly in love with Eddie (MacKay), until their perfect summer is blown apart by the sudden outbreak of a 21st century world war. 

Along with Eddie’s younger siblings, Isaac (Tom Holland) and Piper (Bird), they are left in isolation and forced to fend for themselves. 

When they are violently separated Daisy must embark on a terrifying journey in order to be reunited with the boy she loves.  Eddie is never far from Daisy’s mind but as her journey to find him becomes more desperate, the idea of what she may or may not find consumes her consciousness and haunts her soul.

Kevin Macdonald said 'How I live Now is a book that captivated me as soon as I read it 5 or 6 years ago, with its combination of humour, teen romance and dystopia.

'I think that with the tremendous young cast we have managed to assemble - centred around the brilliant Saoirse Ronan - we can do the book justice - and more.  I can't wait to start shooting!'

Produced by Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind of Cowboy Films and Andrew Ruhemann and John Battsek of Passion Pictures, the film is co-developed by Film4 and the UK Film Council and co-financed by Film4 and BFI Film Fund. 

Momentum Pictures, an Alliance Films Company, will distribute in the UK, with Protagonist Pictures selling internationally.  Deals are already in place with Alliance Films for Canada, TF1 for France, Madman for Australia/New Zealand, Impuls in Switzerland, Lusomundo in Portugal, Front Row for the Middle East, Carmen for CIS and Ablo for Eastern Europe.


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