Smuggler Films is a production company founded in 2009 which produces film, television and theater content.

Background

Smuggler Films was founded by Smuggler

Smuggler (production company)

Smuggler is a film, TV, commercial, music video and theatre production company founded in 2002 by Patrick Milling Smith and Brian Carmody. It has been awarded ‘Production Company of the Year’ by several leading commercial industry magazines and award shows over the past few years, including 2010 by...

 production company partners Brian Carmody and Patrick Milling Smith

Patrick Milling Smith

Patrick Milling Smith began his career producing music videos in London. Patrick later moved to the US to work at Satellite Films. After a year in the States, Patrick founded the Smuggler production company with Brian Carmody, which is home to a unique roster of directing talent alongside an...

 with veteran film and Broadway producer John N. Hart.

Patrick Milling Smith and Brian Carmody formed commercial production company Smuggler in 2002. It has been awarded ‘Production Company of the Year’ by several leading commercial industry magazines and award shows over the past few years, including 2010 by Creativity

Creativity (magazine)

Creativity is a website, formerly a monthly magazine, covering all things creative in advertising and design. The magazine, launched in 1986, provides a showcase of the best ideas across all areas of consumer culture, an exploration of the talent and techniques behind the work and insight on the...

magazine. It also won the 2007 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Advertising Festival. Its branded content television shows for ABC and short independent films have variously won the coveted Cannes Lions Grand Prix and an Emmy.

Prior to Smuggler Films, John Hart produced over 15 critically acclaimed feature films including Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry (film)

Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man played by Hilary Swank, who pursues a relationship with a young woman, played by Chloë...

, You Can Count on Me

You Can Count on Me

You Can Count on Me is a 2000 American drama film starring Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Rory Culkin, and Matthew Broderick. Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, it tells the story of Sammy, a single mother living in a small town, and her complicated relationships with family and friends...

, and more recently the Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...

 directed Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road (film)

Revolutionary Road is a 2008 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes, from screenplay by Justin Haythe, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It is based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates....

, starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...

 and Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...

. Mr. Hart began his entertainment career in New York City as a theater producer. He has produced over 11 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, including the Nathan Lane

Nathan Lane

Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...

-Faith Prince

Faith Prince

Faith Prince is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work on Broadway. Prince has won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical and received three Tony nominations.-Life and career:...

 revival of Guys and Dolls, The Who's

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 Tommy

Tommy (rock opera)

Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...

, Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

with Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....

, starring Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...

, Annie Get Your Gun

Annie Get Your Gun (musical)

Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...

starring Bernadette Peters

Bernadette Peters

Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...

, and the Tony-Award-winning Broadway revival of Chicago

Chicago (musical)

Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...

. Mr. Hart's productions have garnered him three Tony Awards for Best Production; his shows have won over thirty Tonys in various categories.

Films

Projects in development include The White Tiger

The White Tiger

The White Tiger is the debut novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was first published in 2008 and won the Man Booker Prize in the same year. The novel provides a darkly comical view of modern day life in India through the narration of its protagonist Balram Halwai...

, an adaptation of Aravind Adiga

Aravind Adiga

Aravind Adiga is an Indian writer and journalist. His debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Man Booker Prize.-Early life and education:...

's Booker Prize winning novel

The White Tiger

The White Tiger is the debut novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was first published in 2008 and won the Man Booker Prize in the same year. The novel provides a darkly comical view of modern day life in India through the narration of its protagonist Balram Halwai...

. The White Tiger will be adapted by screenwriter Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...

. Smuggler has also acquired live stage and film rights to Jean Anouilh

Jean Anouilh

Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...

's 1960 play Becket

Becket

Becket or The Honor of God is a play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's murder in 1170. It contains many historical inaccuracies, which the author acknowledged.-Background:Anouilh's...

and has enlisted William Monahan

William Monahan

William J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay.-Writer and editor:...

 to write the film adaptation. The play centers on Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

, who was appointed by his friend Henry II of England

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

 as Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

 in 1162 then ultimately sided with the church against the crown.

Smuggler director Ivan Zacharias will also direct the feature film adaptation of A. M. Homes

A. M. Homes

Amy M. Homes is an American writer. She is best-known for her controversial novels and unusual stories, most notably The End of Alice , a novel about a convicted child molester and murderer...

' novel This Book Will Save Your Life. Louis Mellis

Louis Mellis

Louis Mellis is a Scottish actor and screenwriter. Along with David Scinto, he wrote the screenplay for the 2000 film Sexy Beast and the 2009 film 44 Inch Chest....

, who penned Sexy Beast

Sexy Beast

Sexy Beast is a 2000 British-Spanish crime drama film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, and Ian McShane. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was Glazer's debut feature film, who had previously been a music video director for videos such as Rabbit in Your Headlights for...

, is set to write The Princess' Gangster based on the true story of Princess Margaret's affair with gangster John Bindon

John Bindon

John Dennis Arthur "Biffo" Bindon was a British actor and bodyguard who had close links with the London underworld. In numerous films, he played gangsters or tough police detective. Bindon has been described as "the archetypal actor-villain, and an all-round 'good geezer'". He was also notable for...

 in the late 1960s. Other projects in development include the upcoming biopic Greetings from Tim Buckley

Tim Buckley

Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...

with Dan Algrant attached to write/direct.

It was recently announced that Oscar winning Danish director Susanne Bier

Susanne Bier

Susanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...

 will direct the American adaptation of Rapt

Rapt

Rapt may refer to :* Rapt , a movie directed by Benjamin Lemaire* Rapt, a 2009 film* Rapt: la séparation des races, a 1934 movie directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff* Rapt...

. Bier will adapt the script with her longtime collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen

Anders Thomas Jensen

Anders Thomas Jensen is a Danish screenwriter and film director.Jensen won the Oscar for his 1998 film Election Night...

.

Theater

Amongst its theatre projects, Smuggler is adapting the film Once

Once (film)

Once is a 2006 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney. Set in Dublin, this naturalistic drama stars musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as musicians...

for the stage. Once will be adapted by Enda Walsh

Enda Walsh

Enda Walsh is an Irish playwright born in Dublin and currently living in London. Walsh attended the same secondary school where both Roddy Doyle and Paul Mercier taught. Having written for the Dublin Youth Theatre, he moved to Cork where he wrote Fishy Tales for the Graffiti Theatre Company,...

 and directed by John Tiffany. It is scheduled to premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop

New York Theatre Workshop

__notoc__New York Theatre Workshop is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 East 4th Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it houses a 198-seat theatre for its mainstage productions, and a...

 in November, 2011 and will be produced in association with Frederick Zollo and Barbara Broccoli

Barbara Broccoli

Barbara Dana Broccoli, OBE is an American film producer.-Life and career:Broccoli was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of the famous James Bond producer Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and actress Dana Wilson Broccoli...

. The play Seminar, starring Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...

, will premiere on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in November, 2011. Smuggler has also acquired the stage rights to Hollywood legend Robert Evans' memoirs, The Kid Stays in the Picture

The Kid Stays in the Picture

The Kid Stays in the Picture is the name of a 1994 autobiography by film producer Robert Evans. It is also the name of a 2002 film adaptation of the book directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen and released by Focus Features and USA Pictures...

and it’s sequel, The Fat Lady Sang, which will be published in conjunction with the debut of the play.

Resources

• http://smugglersite.com/
• http://smugglerfilms.com/
• http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001921.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
• http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122422-New_Musical_Based_on_Oscar-Winning_Film_Once_Aiming_for_Broadway_Bow_in_2010-2011_
• http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=22658
• http://smugglersite.com/news/2009/02/smuggler-production-company-of-the-year.html
• http://www.boardsmag.com/articles/magazine/20071201/smuggle.html?word=confidence&word=men
• http://www.indiewire.com/article/hart_milling_smith_carmody_form_smuggler_films/
• http://www.indiewire.com/article/smuggler_acquires_white_tiger/
• http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002411.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=smuggler+films
• http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/us-americas/hanif-kureishi-to-adapt-the-white-tiger-for-smuggler-ascension/5003882.article
• http://www.thewrap.com/article/robert-evans-broadway-star-14105
• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/theater/11evans.html?hpw
• http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ice1c355368464e5c5bd446485b9b1862
• http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/smuggler-films-acquires-stage-and-remake-rights-to-jean-anouilhs-becket/5012382.article