THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Andrew Haigh is set to direct the film about the late fashion icon, with principal photography to begin in January.
The hotly anticipated Alexander McQueen biopic has found its leading man.

Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, ’71) has been cast as the late fashion designer in the untitled film to be directed by Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years) with Pathe producing.

The script is written by Chris Urch, the award-winning playwright of The Rolling Stone and Land of Our Fathers, and based on the biography Blood Beneath the Skin by Andrew Wilson. The film will explore the creative process of McQueen — who passed away in 2010 — in the months leading up to one of his greatest shows in 2009, providing an intimate portrait of the man behind the global brand.

Damian Jones (The Iron Lady, Belle, Lady in the Van) is producing, with principal photography set to start in January for delivery at the end of 2017.

Pathe will distribute the film in the U.K., France and Switzerland and will handle sales throughout the rest of the world, introducing the film to buyers at this year’s AFM.

Haigh, who saw 45 Years pick up awards in Berlin in 2015 and earn an Oscar nomination for Charlotte Rampling this year, recently wrapped Lean on Pete and is teaming with See-Saw Films and the BBC on a new drama series.

Sorry for the lack of updates! I’ve been pretty busy with host issues. We have moved again to another host and hopefully this will be the last! I have added some additional portraits Jack took during the BAFTA Awards earlier this year. Enjoy!

Today is Jack O’Connell’s 26th birthday! On behalf of Jack O’Connell Web and all Jack fans around the world, we wanted to wish you a very very happy birthday! We are all wishing you a year of happiness, success, joy, health, and love. We hope you get to spend it with all your family and friends! Hope you are having a wonderful day Jack!

With slow news on Jack, I thought it would be nice to give you an update in the gallery. I have added over 40 high quality outtakes from Jack’s shoot earlier this year for ShortList. Be sure to check them out! It would be greatly appreciated if you did not repost the photos. I had to spend a lot to get these photos for you all to have.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – The period drama starring Oscar winner Alicia Vikander opposite Dane DeHaan and Christoph Waltz was slated to open July 15.
The long-gestating Weinstein Co. project Tulip Fever won’t be blooming in July as expected.

In the latest shuffle of its release schedule, the Weinstein Co. has pushed the period drama seven months, from a release date of July 15, 2016 to Feb. 24, 2017.

The project, starring Oscar winner Alicia Vikander opposite Dane DeHaan and Christoph Waltz, was shot back in 2014, and has been finished for more than a year and was just nine days away from release when the company announced the push.

Tulip Fever is based on Deborah Moggach’s novel about an artist (DeHaan) who falls in love with a married woman (Vikander) after he’s commissioned by the husband (Waltz) to paint her portrait. Justin Chadwick directed from an adapted script by Tom Stoppard.

The film will open opposite Paramount’s God Particle and Open Road’s Sleepless on its new date.

I’ve updated the gallery with 3 additional outtakes from Jack’s photoshoot for Interview Germany. I’ve also replaced the previous ones with higher quality. Enjoy!

I’ve added a new production still of Jack from Home to the gallery!

THE GUARDIAN – Jack O’Connell, star of 71 and Unbroken, appears opposite The Borgias’ Holliday Grainger in Home, in the world exclusive trailer for a 20-minute film designed to highlight the plight of refugees and the uncertainties and violence faced by hundreds of thousands across the globe. Directed by Daniel Mulloy, winner of the best short film Bafta in 2006 for Antonio’s Breakfast, Home is partly funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and will be released in cinemas nationwide on 20 June, World Refugee Day

YOU get the impression that Jack O’Connell is pretty easy going from the moment you meet him. There’s no pretence, plus addressing someone by their first name before you’ve even met is always going to win brownie points. The Jack you see is the Jack you get. He’s relaxed and all-inviting handshakes, big grins and quick to banter, at ease even after a gruelling press trip that comes with the territory of taking a lead in blockbuster movies.

Money Monster, which is in cinemas now, was shot in New York and called for the streets of the city to be shut down. “For me, it epitomised the typical American film-making experience in the middle of downtown New York,” O’Connell confesses, not a sight of a transatlantic lilt in his Derby accent. While he isn’t willing to name names, shooting Money Monster was a different experience from those he has had in the past, and not just down to the sheer scale of the project.

“Shooting this was very fulfilling. I’ve been on sets before where you’re thinking this is bullshit, this hurts, people are getting treated horribly, and no one has got any money for the budget so no one can make you comfortable. If you do enough of that you stop expecting to feel comfortable when you’re at work. I’m very thankful for all those lessons, but when I was finally on this multi-million-dollar set in the middle of New York I could feel a real sense of gratitude.”

Another thing that you notice is that O’Connell is a genuine optimist and a thinker too, although not in the sense that he’s watching his words. On his first day on set, was he intimidated by acting alongside household names? “No more than anyone starting a new job amidst very esteemed colleagues.” Instead the 25-year-old focused on the opportunity presented. “You’re offered a level of confirmation that people are going to see your movie and this can make you feel very confident, which I chose to dwell on more.”

It wasn’t just his on-screen peers that may have been intimidating. Sat in the director’s chair was Jodie Foster, herself an Academy Award-winning actress with 50 years in the industry to her name who has done nothing but sung praises about her experiences working with O’Connell, telling Vogue: “He works so hard and he brings so much to the equation.” The film marks the second time that he has worked with an actress-turned-director. The first, Angelina Jolie, cast him in Unbroken, in which he portrayed Olympian and prisoner-of-war survivor, Louis Zamperini. He notes the film as his proudest professional moment. Describing Zamperini as a “hero” and a tale so epic that, “if you wrote it, people would chastise it.”