Black Sea

He may have written the multi-award winning children’s stage show Matilda, The Musical (which, it's just been announced, will also be making it onto the big screen) but don’t let that fool you; Dennis Kelly is known for his interest in the dark, the violent and the downright frightening, and his first feature film, Black Sea, looks to be no exception.

Starring Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes, The Talented Mr Ripley) and directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King Of Scotland, State of Play, How I Live Now), the action thriller sees a rogue submarine captain (played by Law, wielding a slightly dubious Scottish accent) who, laid off from a salvage company, assembles a motley crew in an attempt to find a gold-laden Nazi U-boat thought to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As the group aboard the claustrophobic vessel realise that fewer men means a larger share of the spoils, loyalties begin to fray and the crew turn mutinous in a desperate fight for survival. 

From Dennis Kelly's 2003 theatre debut Debris – which opened with a father crucifying himself in the family home – to his stage show Osama the Hero – dealing with how a climate of terror might lead neighbours to torture – Kelly’s work rarely makes for easy viewing.

His recent cult Channel 4 show Utopia was littered with typically graphic scenes of violence, remorseless killers and imaginative, grizzly torture. Black Sea sees Kelly make an ambitious transition into the realm of film, with this unnerving tale of greed, desperation and the human condition. With support from the likes of Scoot McNairy, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Ben Mendelsohn and Michael Smiley, we’re expecting strong performances and a gripping debut.