Keira Knightley has joined the voice cast of “Charlotte,” an animated drama film that will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Knightley joins a cast that includes Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Sam Claflin, Henry Czerny, Eddie Marsan, Sophie Okonedo, Mark Strong and the late Helen McCrory.
Marion Cotillard has also been announced to lead the voice cast for the French version of the film, alongside Romain Duris.
Eric Warin and Tahir Rana are directing “Charlotte,” and Sierra/Affinity has come on board to handle global sales. Elevation will release the film in Canada. MK2 Mile End is distributing the film in Quebec, The Searchers in Benelux and Diaphana in France.
“Charlotte” is based on the true story of Charlotte Salomon, a German-Jewish artist who comes of age on the eve of WWII and created a series of autobiographical paintings while hiding from the Nazis. The real Salomon was captured in 1943 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was gassed to death shortly after her arrival. The film is based on Salomon’s autobiographical painting series “Life? or Theatre?”
Warin and Rana will direct the project from Erik Rutherford and David Bezmozgis’s screenplay. Knightley, Cotillard, Morgan Emmery, Jean-Charles Levy, Cédric Iland, Bastien Sirodot, Robert Lantos, Jim Sternberg, Joe Iacono, Mark Musselman Nancy Grant and Xavier Dolan serve as executive producers.
Julia Rosenberg Jérôme Dopffer, Eric Goossens and Anton Roebbens will produce the film alongside co-producers Christina Rotsaert, Patrick Puzenat and Thierry Dechilly.
“All of us at Sierra/Affinity are excited to work with this star-studded cast and present this unique animated film to distributors across the globe,” Jen Gorton, Sierra/Affinity’s EVP of production and sales, said in a statement. “The story of ‘Charlotte’ is one that deserves to be told and we are confident that the massive talent of the cast combined with the direction of the filmmaking team will reach and touch adults worldwide.”
“Charlotte” is a January Films, Les Productions Balthazar, Walking the Dog production in association with Telefilm Canada, Trinity Media Financing, Umedia, Serendipity Point Films, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, Eurimages, Crave, CBC Films, Ontario Creates, Screen Flanders, Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Flanders Audiovisual Fund and Sons of Manual.