EXCLUSIVE: Stranger Things star Matthew Modine is producing a documentary series about iconic Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones, the man credited with kickstarting Leonardo DiCaprio’s career by casting him in This Boy’s Life.
Modine and Adam Rackoff’s Cinco Dedos Peliculas indie is EPing Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy’s Life with Scottish outfits Two Rivers Media and Partickular Films.
The doc, which doesn’t yet have a buyer, will follow the Scandal and Doc Hollywood director’s journey from the working class mining village of Broxburn, near Edinburgh, to the dizzying heights of Hollywood. He is hailed for casting DiCaprio in This Boy’s Life in the early 90s opposite Robert De Niro. Only last month we revealed he is helming Eternity from King Orba and Rachel Robinson-Zetzer.
The film will include interviews with Caton-Jones and big names who worked with him throughout his career including David Putnam, Tim Roth, Letitia Wright, Ron Perlman, Ewen Bremner and David Hayman, as well as featuring archive material from his 40-year career.
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Modine, who plays the terrifying Dr Martin Brenner AKA “Papa” in Stranger Things, is familiar with Caton-Jones’ oeuvre having starred in Memphis Belle as Captain Dennis Dearborn. He said he is “excited to have this opportunity to introduce Michael Caton-Jones’ body of work to a new audience while also reminding folks what a terrific filmmaker he is.”
Modine and Rackoff’s Cinco Dedos Peliculas was recently behind Downwind, which chronicled the fallout from decades of nuclear bomb testing on American soil and was narrated by Martin Sheen. Run by Scottish industry vet Alan Clements, Two Rivers has been behind the likes of Barbie Uncovered: A Dream House Divided and The Last Musician of Auschwitz. Partickular Films’ credits include Cows, Cash & Cover-Ups: Investigating VCJD.
Clements said: “Not only is this film the story of how a young, working-class man became one of the most exacting directors in the business, it tells how Hollywood embraced this driven Scot. We are delighted to have secured so much unique and exclusive material with which to tell this inspiring story.”
Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy’s Life is EP’d by Clements and directed and produced by Partickular’s Joseph McLean. Emmy winners Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly of Hart Reilly Music, whose recent credits include the Roger Moore documentary From Roger With Love, are composing.
The post ‘Stranger Things’ Star Matthew Modine Boards Documentary Series About Iconic Scottish Director Who Gave Leo DiCaprio His First Big Break appeared first on Deadline.
