Lionsgate today announced that they would be teaming with TV’s Keith Lemon (also known as Leigh Francis) to produce it first UK comedy – KEITH LEMON: THE MOVIE.
Keith follows the lead of fellow TV presenter Keith Chegwin, who features in his own movie, KILL KEITH, released this Friday.
Francis is best known for his creation of Avid Merrion and BO’ SELECTA, but has played keith Lemon for a number of years now, and is a prominent figure on UK TV screens.
Lionsgate had this to say on the project:
London, UK (November 9 2011) – Lionsgate UK is venturing into comedy for the first time to produce a new feature film with “Celebrity Juice’s” ever popular host and international ladies’ man Keith Lemon with producing partners Belfast-based Generator Entertainment. Production starts shooting on location in Belfast on November 17, 2011, with funding from Northern Ireland Screen. Verne Troyer is confirmed to star alongside Keith Lemon.
KEITH LEMON: THE FILM is a comedy about Keith following his dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur, just like his hero Richard Branson. He comes to London from Leeds, becomes an overnight billionaire then an over day failure before finding the road to redemption.
Written by Leigh Francis, creator of Bo Selecta, Avid Merrion and Keith Lemon’s World Tour, and Paul Angunawela, the film will be directed by Angunawela and produced by Mark Huffam (Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, Game of Thrones, Mamma Mia!, Johnny English), Simon Bosanquet (Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Whole Lotta Sole) and Aidan Elliott for Belfast-based Generator Entertainment. Zygi Kamasa, CEO of Lionsgate UK will executive produce. Nick Manzi and Emma Berkofsky developed the film in house and will also executive produce for Lionsgate UK. Additional finance comes from London post house Molinare.
The project marks Lemon’s first feature film and the second time Lionsgate UK and Keith have partnered following Lionsgate Home Entertainment’s release last Christmas of “Keith Lemon’s Fit!”, a comedic DVD parody of the popular fitness video market, which became a huge hit in the UK selling over 100,000 units.
Zygi Kamasa, CEO of Lionsgate UK said: “Keith Lemon is someone that everyone in the UK wants to be or wants to be with. Given his universal appeal and electric popularity with the ladies, making this film will prove to be an absolute rollercoaster of a ride for us, exposing Keith’s natural talent – something he is very used to doing both on and off screen.”
Keith Lemon adds “It’s a privilege to have the power of sight, hearing, touching and feeling. But to make a film which I am going to be able to see myself in, hear myself in, but unfortunately not touch or feel myself in (because it’s not in 3d) is even more’rer’rer of privilege. Especially since it’s based on true life events that have happened in my true life, apart from of course 98.2 per cent of it which has been made up simply for entertainment purposes.”
Simon Bosanquet of Generator is delighted with the project “We are looking forward to welcoming Keith to Belfast to shoot his debut feature film with our talented local crews and artists. He has a huge fan base in the province and will no doubt be the focus of much female attention.”
The project marks Lemon’s first feature film and the second time he has partnered with Lionsgate following Lionsgate Home Entertainment’s release last Christmas of “Keith Lemon’s Fit!”, a comedic DVD parody of the popular fitness video market, a huge hit in the UK selling of 100,000 units. Keith Lemon first came to prominence as a character on Channel 4’s popular comedy series Bo Selecta and then had his own ITV series “Keith Lemon’s World Tour”. He is currently the host of ITV2’s hit gameshow and ratings sensation Celebrity Juice. He has also hosted ITV’s Sing If You Can which gained 4.5 million viewers on ITV1. As well as being a regular an agony uncle on ITV’s This Morning his iTunes App has topped the charts with over 300,000 downloads. Orion have published “Keith Lemon: The Rules: 69 Ways To Be Successful” and Lemon will also feature on the Celebrity Juice: Too Juicy for TV DVD from 2entertain.
In addition to Keith Lemon: The Film, Lionsgate UK recently announced they are co-producing the Colin Firth starrer The Railway Man and exec producing Mike Newell’s Great Expectations which started shooting on 10 October. Lionsgate UK’s theatrical slate includes Lasse Hallström’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor and Kristin Scott Thomas which Lionsgate co-produced with BBC Films and Kudos Film and Television alongside Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut Coriolanus and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method which had Gala presentations at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2011.
