Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Mike Leigh's Biopic of Artist JMW Turner

Deadline reports that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American, Latin American and Eastern European rights to Mike Leigh's currently untitled biopic on the life of JMW Turner, often considered England's most renown artist. Timothy Spall is set to portray the painter.

The project, produced by Georgina Lowe, is scheduled to begin production this spring for a 2014 release. Production partners on the film include Film4, British Film Institute (BFI), Focus Features International, LipSync and Xofa Productions. The National Gallery, Tate Britain and the Royal Academy have all agreed to give the filmmakers access to Turner's greatest works.

In a statement on the project, Leigh commented, "Turner as a character is compelling. I want to explore the man, his working life, his relationships and how he lived. But what fascinates me most is the drama that lies in the tension between this driven eccentric and the epic, timeless world he evoked in his masterpieces. I also see rich tragic-comic potential in his often turbulent relationship with the English Art Establishment, especially in his later years, when his increasingly radical work was misunderstood and derided."

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