In February 2011, Madonna held a private screening of the trailer for W.E. at the Berlin Film Festival. The attendance included a Q&A session from Madonna and was intended to sell the film to distributors. The rights were acquired by Optimum Releasing for the UK market, The Weinstein Company for the US release and Village Roadshow for Australia and New Zealand. Weinstein promoted the film as Madonna's first full-length directorial venture, since her previous directed film, Filth and Wisdom, was considered a short film by them for its runtime of 81 minutes. Madonna had hoped to premiere the film at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, but could not do so since she was still making finishing touches to the soundtrack and there were three weeks more of post production to complete before the film was ready to be screened to an international audience. A representative for the film festival said that, "hile the movie's distributors will attend the festival, they will preview select cuts to buyers at private screenings instead of showing the entire feature." The Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamingboye reported that W.E. would be premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, where it would be screened out of the competition. W.E. was shown at the festival on September 1, 2011, with Madonna attending the premiere, along with the principal cast. Other film festivals where W.E was shown included the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival in the same month. Along with the film festivals, still images from W.E. were released in the September 2011 issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
W.E. (stylized as W./E.) is an upcoming feature film co-written and directed by Madonna, starring Abbie Cornish, Oscar Isaac, Richard Coyle, James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough. It began filming on location in London, England, on July 5, 2010, and also shot in France and the United States. The screenplay was co-written by Alek Keshishian, who previously worked with Madonna on her 1991 documentary Truth or Dare (aka In Bed with Madonna) and two of her music video clips. The film was produced by Madonna's production company Semtex Films and will be distributed in the United States by The Weinstein Company and in the UK by StudioCanal.
"I directed Filth & Wisdom to teach myself about filmmaking... And now, with this self-punishing process of being a producer and a writer and a director, I'm taking the next step."
One of the first characters that Madonna developed for the film was a Russian immigrant living in Brooklyn and working in Manhattan, called Evgeni. The character was inspired by Eugene Hütz, who played the lead role in Filth and Wisdom. Madonna wanted to shoot the film in certain locations where the British Royal family reside. A representative from her commented: "Madonna is keen to make the film as authentic as possible and would be very grateful if we are allowed to film at certain locations, She loves the UK and holds the Queen in the highest regard." Madonna decided to move back to the United Kingdom as the film would take six months to shoot. While casting for the film, she asked for a Michael O'Connor wedding dress, in display at the National Museum of Costume in Scotland, for a scene where Riseborough would wear it. National Museum of Costume general manager Margaret Roberts said they were happy to send the dress to Madonna. "Our Marriage in the Movies exhibition is packed with fabulous gowns that tell a story not only about the history of the period they represent, but also of Hollywood glamour and style," she said. This is a dress that was made for the movies, so when we received the request from Madonna's production company, we were only too happy to oblige." Other fashion designers working for the film included John Galliano and Issa, who provided clothes, Pierre Cartier the jewels, and Stephen Jones the hats. The budget of the film is £18 million ($36 million).
Production credits as per W.E. press release from Madonna.com and The Weinstein Company.
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