Historical Biopic 'The Young Victoria' Begins Production

Graham King and Martin Scorsese's dramatic feature film 'The Young Victoria' has commenced principal photography.
The Young Victoria will be filmed on location in England and at Shepperton Studios during a 10 week shoot. The film is directed by the critically acclaimed French Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée from a script by Academy Award winning Julian Fellowes.
Thomas Kretschmann has also joined the cast for the film playing the Belgian King Leopold. Kretschmann most recently completed shooting the Angelina Jolie starrer 'Wanted' and has been cast in Bryan Singer's 'Valkyrie' starring Tom Cruise. His past credits include the Academy Award nominated titles 'Downfall' and 'The Pianist' starring Academy Award winner Adrien Brody and 'U-571' opposite Matthew McConaughey.
'The Young Victoria' chronicles Victoria's rise to power, focusing on the early turbulent years of her reign and her legendary romance and marriage to Prince Albert.
Vallée will direct 'The Young Victoria' from a script penned by Academy Award winning writer Julian Fellowes. Fellowes' screenplay for 'Gosford Park' earned him numerous accolades including an Academy Award received in 2002. His other screenwriting credits include Mira Nair's 'Vanity Fair' and his directorial debut 'Separate Lies' starring Tom Wilkinson.
Introduced to the project by Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, 'The Young Victoria' is a GK Films production, produced by King and Scorsese with Tim Headington and Sarah Ferguson also attached. King and Scorsese most recently won Best Picture and Best Achievement in Directing Oscars respectively for their recent collaboration on the box office hit 'The Departed'.
Denis O'Sullivan will oversee the project for GK Films.
(DS/SP)