New British thriller Red Mercury launches in London

Multi-award winning actors Stockard Channing and Ron Silver took part in the launch of new British film 'Red Mercury' yesterday (Wednesday January 19 2005) at Covent Garden Hotel.
The taut, highly charged thriller has reunited 'The West Wing' stars, who have flown into London to join the cast of Red Mercury, a post 9/11 political thriller set in a Greek restaurant under siege.
Other leading roles are played by Pete Postlethwaite (The Usual Suspects, Romeo and Juliet) Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply, The Politician’s Wife), David Bradley (Harry Potter) and Navin Chowdhry (Teachers).
In the tradition of films like 'Dog Day Afternoon', 'Under Siege' and 'Con Air', Red Mercury tells the story of a group of people whose lives are shattered by a random act of terrorism when a Greek restaurant is taken over by three young terrorists. It explores the ways in which our intelligence services and police deal with a terrorist event that they have long claimed to be inevitable. Secret government manoeuvres are involved behind the scenes just as the barriers between the hostages and their captors start to come down.
Stockard Channing plays the role of Penelope, the owner of the restaurant under siege. Ron Silver is Sidney, a New Yorker who finds himself trapped in a nightmare scenario. Pete Postlethwaite is the ‘Gold Commander’ in charge of the police operation. Juliet Stevenson plays Sofia, the MI5 officer whose task it is to track down the identities of the three young terrorists.
Red Mercury is written by Farrukh Dhondy and directed by BAFTA-Life-Time-Achiever Roy Battersby.
It is produced by Michael Wearing and Peter Ansorge for Inspired Movies, who, as Heads of Drama at the BBC and Channel 4 Wearing and Ansorge were responsible for some of the finest political thrillers of recent years including 'Edge of Darkness', 'House of Cards', 'A Very British Coup', 'GBH', 'The Politician’s Wife' and 'Our Friends In The North'.
Red Mercury is produced by Inspired Movies, a UK based production house committed to making film entertainment that is gripping, sharp, searing and relevant to today’s uncertain world.
Executive producers Meenu Bachan and Dr Phil Blackburn said: “We are continuing to build on the great British tradition of political thrillers and Red Mercury deals with one of the key issues of this century.”
(GB/SP)