It is western Europe’s tallest building, and a modern staple of the 21st-century London skyline. Now the Shard will take centre stage in a “nail-biting” thriller starring Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley and directed by James Bond veteran Martin Campbell.
The high-wire action-thriller, titled Cleaner, will be “set on the side of the Shard” in present-day London, Deadline reported. It centres on a group of radical activists taking over an energy company’s annual gala at the 310 metre-tall building and seizing hundreds of hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts.
But the activist’s cause is hijacked by a zealous extremist within their ranks who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to Ridley’s character Joey Locke, a former soldier turned window cleaner, to save the hostages and take down the killers while suspended 90 storeys up on the side of the building.
Filming on the project is due to begin in late summer 2023. It has not yet been confirmed whether the project will actually film at the Shard. The film will be sold at the Cannes market later this month.
“Cleaner is a nail-biting thriller, unique and original in both its character and its setting,” said Campbell, the film-maker behind Casino Royale and GoldenEye. “Much of the film takes place on the side of the Shard – hundreds of feet up in the air – and I want the audience to be up there with Joey in a stomach-churning, vertiginous experience.
“There isn’t a more instinctive and powerful actress than Daisy right now to help us do just that. The majority of my movies have been thrillers and Cleaner is one of the best I’ve ever read.”
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Sébastien Raybaud, the CEO of the European production and finance group Anton, said: “It has always been the intention to make European action-thrillers that are sophisticated, provocative, and fun. Independent films from our region with heart and identity, but which also provide a unique and accessible proposition for contemporary audiences globally. With Martin and Daisy taking lead, and a script that is so unpredictable and authentic, we have everything we need to do just that.”
Ridley recently confirmed she will reprise her role as Rey in a new Star Wars film. She will also appear in the psychological thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, the biographical drama Young Woman and the Sea about an Olympic swimmer, and the noir thriller Magpie, based on a story Ridley developed.
Campbell, a New Zealand film and television director based in the UK, recently reunited with the Casino Royale star Eva Green on the film Dirty Angels.
Representatives for both have been contacted.