Rachman – Empire of Dirt – Vincent O'Connell

Written and to be directed by Vincent O’Connell. This feature is an original commission from Redspur Films.

VOweb4.1-ScriptQuote_crop

This story was first brought to me more than 20 years ago by then script editor Paul Marcus. He identified me as the young, hungry and angry writer he needed to work on it. (I remain hungry and angry!). There were legal reasons we couldn’t get it off the ground at the BBC, but Paul and I never stopped talking about it as a film we’d love to make. When a good friend of Paul’s offered to put some money into developing a film for Paul to direct, this was the one he immediately mentioned. This time there were no legal impediments, and I had the best experience of developing a script I’ve ever had. All the work with Paul was good work, a joy, and I said to him many times that this was how it was supposed to be. Paul became very ill in the late stages of development, and died in February 2011. Stepping up to fill Paul’s very substantial shoes was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but having his endorsement and that of his widow Viviana gave me the strength to make my case to our executive board, and I am grateful for their wholehearted support. We carry Paul’s spirit with us.

Synopsis

An exiled Polish Jew, Peter Rachman reinvents himself in post-war England as a notorious slum landlord providing housing to a generation of new immigrants. Beneath the unexpectedly charming, succesful exterior is an anguished man whose fractured identity reaches out for affection, acceptance and status to to the bizarre gallery of high- and low-lifes who are drawn to him. His increasingly desperate juggling of finances, girlfriends and tenants careers out of control, igniting the tinderbox that sparks the Notting Hill riots, and he finds that no matter how powerfully he recreates himself, the concentration camp guard is always at his shoulder.

Status

Ready for production. Redspur have recently, and on good terms, split from former production partners LAB. A new version of the script is now prepared, reducing the budget to £1.5m. A new funding and co-production drive is now underway. The former production prospectus below is outdated in this way, but remains usefully informative about the project.

Click here for Redspur Films/LAB Entertainment production prospectus

Click here to read an extract from the script

Click here for images of Rachman’s London.

Contact Vincent O’Connell for further information