Neil Marshall’s ‘Duchess’, Starring Charlotte Kirk, Heads To Cannes – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Palisades Park Pictures (PPP) will be representing global sales for action-thriller Duchess from director Neil Marshall (Hellboy).

Post production recently wrapped with PPP screening for buyers at the Cannes market next week.  

Duchess stars Charlotte Kirk (Vice) in the titular role as she navigates the world of diamond smuggling. Philip Winchester (Strike Back), Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Sean Pertwee (Event Horizon), and Stephanie Beacham (Dracula A.D. 1972) also star.

Duchess follows Kirk’s no-nonsense Scarlett Monaghan and her rise from a working-class petty criminal to becoming a ruthless organized crime leader in the seedy underbelly of the diamond smuggling circuit of Tenerife.

Marshall and Kirk co-penned the screenplay, with Emily Corcoran of Cork Films and Kristyna Sellnerova as producers. 

Joe Simpson, Simon Williams, Jonathan Bross and Matthew E. Chausse of Ashland Hill Media Finance and Norman Merry and Peter Hampden of Lip Sync executive-produced along with Jon Dean, Phil Rymer, Seth Sklar, Colin Egglesfield, Giada Falzoni, Kirk and Marshall. Set was designed by Jonathan McKinstry. 

“We are thrilled to announce Duchess as part of our sales slate and eagerly await the film’s introduction to buyers,” PPP CEO Tamara Birkemoe said. “We’re proud of the range of varied content we plan to bring to Cannes and future markets and know that this action thriller will be a welcome, fresh addition.”

Duchess is the second title on the Palisades Park Pictures’ sales slate, following That’s Amore! from Oscar-winning filmmaker Nick Vallelonga, led by John Travolta, Katherine Heigl and Christopher Walken.

Kirk became front-page news in Hollywood in 2020 after extra-marital affairs with Kevin Tsujihara, at that time CEO of Warner Bros., and Ron Meyer, the then vice chairman of NBCUniversal, led to their dismissals.