Jeff Pope and Xavier Marchand to Star in WWII Drama ‘Castle of the Eagles’

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jeff Pope (“Philomena”) and Xavier Marchand of “Nautilus” producer Moonriver TV collaborate on “Castle of the Eagles,” a six-episode limited series based on the true story of Allied POWs who a daring prison break from a fortified Italian castle during World War II.

The duo will present the project to an industry audience in Rome during the MIA Market, which runs from October 14 to 18.

“Castle of the Eagles,” written by Pope and based on the book of the same name by Mark Felton, is produced by Marchand for Moonriver and Pope for his production label Etta Pictures, which is part of ITV Studios. “Harry Potter” star Jason Isaacs, who played Cary Grant in the four-part ITV biopic “Archie,” written by Pope, has been added in a leading role.

The series begins in 1943, with a war raging across Europe and some twenty Allied soldiers and officers imprisoned in Castello Vincigliata, a virtually impregnable fortress high above the Tuscan countryside that was built by the fascist army of Italian dictator Benito. prison has been converted. Mussolini.

Among the prized prisoners are two British Knights of the Empire, an air marshal and twelve generals and brigadiers – some of the highest-ranking officials captured and imprisoned during the Second World War. They are accompanied by a pair of brigadiers from New Zealand, who were captured by Italian forces in Libya during Mussolini’s North African campaign.

Far from ordinary soldiers, the POVs possess some of the Allied forces’ most prized secrets, including the knowledge that the British have cracked Enigma, Nazi Germany’s nearly unbreakable code for sending top-secret messages. If the prisoners are transferred to Adolf Hitler’s Gestapo, World War II – and the fate of Western civilization – could be at stake.

“The stakes were huge,” says Pope, head of ITV’s factual drama division. The screenwriter, who won a BAFTA for ITV’s 2006 two-part drama ‘See No Evil: The Moors Murders’, said the series would not only tell the riveting story of the POWs’ miraculous escape, which involved digging tunnels underground . fortress walls – but explore the complex forces that drove the war effort and reshaped the political landscape in Europe.

“It’s many things in one. It’s a thriller. It’s a psychological drama. There is also a social commentary in the way it explores the Nazi and Italian kidnappers,” Pope said. “We also look at extremism and how it can tear people apart… It’s full of action and drama in the traditional sense of the word. But the basis of it all [are broader themes] we want to explore.”

Former eOne Features production director Marchand described “Castle of the Eagles” as “a beautiful story about male camaraderie.” “It’s a very emotional piece about older men trying to return to the war effort,” he said. He added that the show’s creators hope to find an Italian co-producer or broadcast partner during MIA, with a view to filming on location in Tuscany.

The veteran producer founded his London grind Moonriver in 2016, with credits including Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert starring “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Paramount+ and Showtime’s adaptation of Amor Towles’ best-selling novel “A Gentleman in Moscow” and “Nautilus,” the origin story of Captain Nemo inspired by Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” which will be released by AMC and Prime Video.

Marchand also served as executive producer of the 2018 Laurel and Hardy biopic “Stan & Ollie,” written by Pope – a project that brought the award-winning writer together with the veteran producer for the first time.

“[‘Castle of the Eagles’] was born from [‘Stan & Ollie’]because Xav and I spent a lot of time working on that together, which was a real passion project for both of us,” Pope said. “I think we both have a passion for the early 20th century. Even though they don’t seem like bedfellows… Stan and Ollie’s heyday was just before the Second World War. It is an era that interests us.”

The series harks back to iconic World War II dramas such as John Sturges’ ‘The Great Escape’, in which Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough play the Allied prisoners who stage the daring escape of several hundred POWs from a Nazi prison camp to make.

A key difference from “Castle of the Eagles,” however, is that most of the high-ranking officers who escaped from Castello Vincigliata were “probably close to my age now,” Pope said.

“While ‘The Great Escape’ featured young officers at the height of their physical powers, here we had older men, many in their fifties and sixties, who…had something to prove to the world and to themselves about their physical powers , and how they refused to accept the fact that they were older,” he said.

“The idea of ​​escape is something that is fundamental to all of us. But to have a world and characters to play with that were so unusual, and so different from other breakout films, all of that together I found irresistible.