Hope Gap begins...

We're now in pre-production on HOPE GAP, which is fully financed and green-lit. This week a series of location visits with the team, and intense discussions with the Heads of Department. We start rehearsals with Annette Bening, Bill Nighy and Josh O'Connor on June 27. We shoot from July 10.

I've been refining the script as I go over it with Anna Valdez Hanks, our Director of Photography, and Simon Rogers, our Production Designer. We have a tight shoot - just under six weeks - and need to be super-prepared. But it feels good. I've been planning this for so long now that I'm eager to get under way. I feel as if we've already shot it, it's so clear, frame by frame, in my head.

In the end my film will succeed or fail on the performances of the three lead actors. My job, it seems to me, is to create a secure and trusting space within which they can explore and be adventurous and discover the truth of their characters. I still find great acting magical: I don't really know how they do it. I just know I want it.