The musical thriller “London Road,” featuring Tom Hardy in a single seen as a singing cabbie, will be distributed by BBC Worldwide North America.
The BBC film unit acquired the U.S. rights to the film, which traces the 2006 discovery of five dead women in the sleepy rural town of Ipswich. A fall theatrical release is planned, though it’s unclear how BBC will handle distribution.
Based on true events, and on the musical of the same name, the film was directed by Rufus Norris and written by Adam Cork and Alecky Blythe.
While marketing materials and some media reports would have audiences believe this is a Tom Hardy movie, he only appears in a single scene.
Olivia Coleman, star of another BBC murder-mystery, television series “Broadchurch,” is among the leading cast, rounded out by Kate Fleetwood and Anita Dobson.
The film was released in the U.K. last summer and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.
“London Road” starts out in the year 2006 and follows small-town residents struggling with the dubious fame that comes along with such a gruesome, high-profile crime.
When a local is finally convicted for the murders, the community comes to grips with what it means to be at the epicenter of a tragedy.