Cannes: Showtime Documentary on Charlie Chaplin Heading to Market

The "definitive" doc on the cinema icon is coming from BAFTA nominees Peter Middleton and James Spinney.

A documentary about one of the most famous and influential names in cinema, Charlie Chapin, is heading to the Marche du Film in Cannes

Showtime and U.K. sales/distribution banner Altitude have teamed up to represent worldwide rights for Chaplin (working title), the upcoming second feature documentary from Peter Middleton and James Spinney, three-time BAFTA nominees for Notes on Blindness.

Altitude is handling international rights for the film and will be introducing the project to buyers at Cannes. Showtime has North American rights, while Altitude also has acquired distribution rights to the film for the U.K. and Ireland.

Chaplin is being funded by the BFI, Film4 and Showtime. Further support comes from the BFI National Archive’s world-class collections and Chaplin’s World by Grevin. Chaplin’s World is a museum housed in the historic Manoir de Ban in Vevey, Switzerland, where the icon lived for 25 years. It will act as a shooting location for sequences set during the latter stages of his life.

Chaplin is both the ultimate rags-to-riches story and a revealing, poignant and definitive portrait of cinema’s most iconic figure. Groundbreaking, controversial, outspoken, visionary, Chaplin, for decades, was the most famous man in the world — but who was the real Charlie Chaplin?

BAFTA-nominated filmmakers Middleton and Spinney have gained unprecedented access to Chaplin’s personal and creative archive, including a treasure trove of previously unknown material. Through unseen outtakes and newly unearthed audio recordings, Middleton and Spinney will chart Chaplin’s escape from an impoverished childhood in late-Victorian London to the bright lights of Hollywood at the dawn of cinema. But although his fictional alter ego, "the Little Tramp," brings him global fame and total artistic control, turbulent creative anxieties, successive personal scandals and a controversial political voice ultimately lead not only to the demise of his beloved character, but also his rejection from America and self-imposed exile.

Ben Limberg (Smaller Biggie) and John Battsek (Passion Pictures) will produce alongside Mike Brett (Archer’s Mark), bringing award-winning experience from previous films including Listen to Me Marlon and Notes on Blindness.