Richard Stanley's script called STRAY has found a director in Carine Adler, according to Stanley's CV. Adler wrote and directed her sole feature film to date in 1997 with the British drama Under the Skin. The project is currently in development under Recorded Pictures Company, who also have IN A SEASON OF SOFT RAINS.

Good.
But I want THE MAN back behind the camera!

Information from Recorded Picture Company site.


director Carine Adler

producer Jeremy Thomas

screenplay Richard Stanley

from the novel by Vikki Allan


"Title: Stray

Status: in development

Story: Set in London and adapted from Vicky Allan's debut novel, Stray is a contemporary, sophisticated horror film in the vein of Polanski's Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. Milla works at an animal shelter where she has a particular speciality in cats. She is pretty, twenty-something, single and content with her life until she meets Josh. The two fall madly in love, and before long Josh moves in with her. However, their idyll is irrevocably shattered when Purrl, an unusual stray cat, comes in to their lives. Somehow more than a pet, Purrl bewitches Milla, and the consequences are deadly...

Following her powerful debut feature Under the Skin (1996), director Carine Adler is back with this potent psychological thriller. Written by Richard Stanley, writer/director of Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992)."

A news piece dated on the week of February 8th, 2004
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4 Blighty producers eye Foresight funds
Prescience provides funding via Section 48 tax break

By ADAM DAWTREY


BERLIN -- Brit producers Jeremy Thomas, Andrew Eaton, Simon Channing-Williams and Richard Holmes have signed up with a new £10 million ($18 million) production fund being launched by Prescience Film Finance. The Prescience fund, dubbed Foresight Film, uses the U.K.'s Section 48 film tax break, and is unaffected by the British government's shock move Tuesday to outlaw film funds that operate outside Section 48. Foresight has first refusal to provide up to 25% of the budget for nine potential projects with a total budget of $72 million the four producers are hoping to set up in the 2004-05 tax year.

Projects include Michael Winterbottom's "Tristan Shandy," "A Star Called Henry" and Emma Thompson's "Fast Forward," all from Eaton and Winterbottom's Revolution Films; Terry Gilliam's "Tideland," Carine Adler's "Stray" and Brian Skeet's "Synchro" from Thomas; "White Bhaji" from Holmes; and "Cork" and "Brothers of the Head" from Channing-Williams. Prescience is run by industry veterans Paul Brett and Tim Smith. Producer Stephen Woolley is on the advisory board, along with reps of the fund's tax adviser WJB Chiltern and its promoter Park Caledonia.

"The combination of highly commercial, quality productions, a very competitive overall structure and the tried and tested advantages of Section 48 make Foresight Film a very strong proposition for investors in what is probably the final opportunity to benefit from this form of tax relief," said Smith.

The banning of non-Section 48 funds has strengthened Foresight Film's position as it launches its fund-raising over the next couple of weeks.

"Our agreements with these leading independent British producers provide the (investors) with access to the cream of the U.K.'s production output for 2004/2005 and, coupled with the quality of the team behind Foresight Film, should significantly reduce investor risk and create the opportunity of genuine upside," Brett said.

--
Article from Indieville.

Latest on Stray is that Emily Mortimer is cast to the role of Milla. Her film credits include, among others, Scream 3, The 51st State and the upcoming Pink Panther.

Hanway Films, the sister company of Recorded Picture Co, has a teaser page and a short description of STRAY up on their official site.

According to the site, Hanway is related to RPC by arranging "financing, sales, and distribution for all films from Jeremy Thomas' Recorded Picture Company". Stray is mentioned in the company profile as the other forthcoming film (as opposed to being in development), along with Richard Linklater's FAST FOOD NATION.

I wonder when VACATION gets mentioned in this space.

"Over by the bar, Brian and I ended up chatting for awhile with Mortimer, who as it turns out is a big fan of documentaries and began raving about a recent fave ("Grizzly Man"). The big news from our conversation was not her upcoming role in "The Pink Panther", but rather her starring role in Carine Adler's return to feature filmmaking in the thriller entitled "Stray". Adler is an indieWIRE favorite from back in 1997 when she debuted her first feature "Under The Skin" at the Toronto fest. Can't wait for that one..."

- 18th Nov. 2005

IMDb now lists this project to be in postproduction, with a DVD premiere expected stateside in 2007.

Odd, considering that Emily Mortimer is no longer listed as the female lead. At the moment, take it as your everyday IMDb rumor. Also, HanWay Films have removed the teaser page for the project from their website. Bad news? Time will tell.

Oh, and did I ever mention my cat's name is Milla? I'm serious.

The Recorded Picture Company website is back online, now with a teaser page of Stray. It's still listed to be in development, so the DVD premiere is most likely bogus.

Interestingly, you can't see it on the site, but if you open the print formatted PDF, you'll see that Dawn Shadforth is now listed as director.

Shadford is a much-lauded promo director, whose completed credits can be found here. She'd make an interesting replacement to Carine Adler, who has quite possibly exited the project.