The Tourist Starts Principal Photography

CULVER CITY, Calif., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- On 23 February 2010 principal photography began on GK Films' romantic thriller "The Tourist," directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. "The Tourist" is being produced by Academy-Award-winner Graham King and will shoot in Paris and Venice. Sony Pictures will distribute the film.

"The Tourist" is written by Academy Award® winning screenwriters Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park," "The Young Victoria") and Christopher McQuarrie ("Valkyrie"), and Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("The Day After Tomorrow") and revolves around Frank (Depp), an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise (Jolie) is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. Against the breathtaking backdrop of Venice, Frank pursues a potential romance but soon finds himself the pursued as he and Elise are caught in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger.

Academy Award®-winning actress Angelina Jolie stars in the upcoming thriller "Salt," directed by Phillip Noyce for Columbia Pictures. She received an Academy Award® nomination for her work in Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" and won the Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress in "Girl, Interrupted." Her critically hailed portrayal of Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart" garnered Golden Globe and Spirit Award nominations. Other recent credits include the animated film "Kung Fu Panda" and the blockbuster hit "Wanted." Jolie is the Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a position she has held since 2001.

Johnny Depp, nominated three times for an Oscar® for his work in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl," "Finding Neverland" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," appears next as The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's highly anticipated "Alice in Wonderland." He also stars in GK Films upcoming feature "The Rum Diary," written and directed by Bruce Robinson and produced with Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil. Other recent films include Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" in which he played the legendary John Dillinger.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck won the 2007 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film for the thriller "The Lives of Others," which marked his writing and directing debut. The film also garnered a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and Donnersmarck earned BAFTA nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

"The Tourist" is a GK Films presentation in association with Spyglass and is produced by Graham King, Tim Headington, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman. Following his Academy Award® win for Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," producer King launched his independent production company GK Films in May 2007 with business partner Tim Headington. Under this new production banner, the company produced the thriller "Edge of Darkness" starring Mel Gibson recently released through Warner Bros. Pictures. In addition, GK Films recently completed shooting "The Rum Diary" and the crime drama "London Boulevard" starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley, and written and directed by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter William Monahan. GK Films' production "The Young Victoria" starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend is nominated for three Academy Awards® and is currently enjoying its US theatrical release. King's past credits include "The Aviator," "Gangs of New York," "Blood Diamond," "Ali" and "Traffic."

Studio Canal is also a partner on the production.

Academy Award® winner John Seale is the Cinematographer. He has been nominated four times for the Oscar® and won for his work on "The English Patient," for which he also won the ASC Award. His credits include the upcoming "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" as well as "Poseidon," "Cold Mountain," "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," "The Perfect Storm" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley," among many others.

Colleen Atwood is the Costume Designer. Atwood won the Oscar® for her work on Rob Marshall's films "Chicago" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" and has been nominated for a total of nine times including this year for Marshall's "Nine." She has won the Costume Designers Guild Award five times, for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "Memoirs of a Geisha." "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," "Chicago," and "Sleepy Hollow." Her recent film credits include "Mission Impossible III," "Public Enemies," the upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Rum Diary."

Jon Hutman is the Production Designer. His credits include Nancy Meyers' "What Women Want," "Something's Gotta Give," "The Holiday," and "It's Complicated," as well as "The Interpreter," "My Sister's Keeper," and "The Time Traveler's Wife." He received an Art Directors Guild nomination for Excellence in Production Design for "Something's Gotta Give" and won the Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single Camera Series for his work on NBC's "The West Wing."

Joe Hutshing and Patricia Rommel are on board as Film Editors. The winner of two Academy Awards® for "Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK," Hutshing was nominated for a further two Academy Awards® for "Almost Famous" and Jerry Maguire." His additional credits include "It's Complicated," "W.," "Something's Gotta Give," "Vanilla Sky" and Indecent Proposal." Rommel won the German Film Critics Award for Best Editing and a German Film Award Best Editing nomination for Henckel von Donnersmarck's Academy Award winning "The Lives of Others." Additional credits include Caroline Link's "A Year Ago in Winter" and "Off Beat" for which she won the German Camera Award, the Film + award and the German Film Critics Association Award for her editing. She most recently edited the acclaimed drama "The Last Station" starring Academy Award nominated actors Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer.  

SOURCE Sony Pictures; GK Films