Adam Brody and Laura Carmichael to Star in ‘A Night at Claridge’s’ as Whit Stillman Sets Big Screen Return (EXCLUSIVE)

Whit Stillman has set his return to the big screen for the first time in 10 years.

“A Night at Claridge’s” (working title) marks the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s first feature since 2016’s “Love & Friendship,” and will reunite the director with “Nobody Wants This” star Adam Brody following their previous collaborations on “Damsels in Distress” and “The Cosmopolitan.” Meanwhile, “Downton Abbey” star Laura Carmichael has been cast as the lead.

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Set in autumn 1943 in the build-up to D-Day as South England is flooded with American soldiers, “A Night at Claridge’s” follows Miss Roach (Carmichael), a publisher’s reader bombed out of her London flat who is relieved to find lodgings outside town and start a friendship with Vicki, a vivacious German woman. But at the boarding house her life is made hell by Mr. Thwaites, a preposterous bully.

As per the synopsis, the arrival of a happy-go-lucky American officer, Lt. Dayton Pike, offers escape, but her new friend Vicki likes him too. An intense psychological battle begins, leading to a violent incident and a death. Guilt and a fiance she can’t trust push Miss Roach to the limit. But a mysterious man, an eccentric boss and an otherworldly elegant hotel lead to a resolution.

Also joining the cast is Tom Bennett, following his star turn as the loveable Sir James Martin in Stillman’s “Love & Friendship,” and British acting icon and multi-Emmy Award-winning actress Susan Hampshire of “The Forsyte Saga.”

Stillman adapted the screenplay based on Patrick Hamilton’s 1943-set, “The Slaves of Solitude,” considered by many to be his greatest novel. Hamilton was also a playwright, most notably with “Gaslight” and “Rope” which were later made into movies by George Cukor and Alfred Hitchcock. The title of the former film spawned the English verb “to gaslight” or “gaslighting,” manipulating an environment so the victim questions his own sanity.

“A Night at Claridge’s” will be produced by Georgina Lowe (“Hard Truths,” “Mr. Turner”), Valencia Haynes, and Suzanne Warren (“Hacksaw Ridge,” “The Last King Of Scotland”) via their SOS Productions Ltd. Lauranne Bourrachot (“Love & Friendship,” “A Prophet”) of Le Spectre, Paris, is the French co-producer. John Sloss will serve as executive producer and will also handle domestic rights via Cinetic Media.