Matt Hookings and Chris Hardman are the producing duo behind Daniel Graham’s black comedy, The Obscure Life Of The Grand Duke Of Corsica. Hookings and Hardman brought all their smarts from their earlier careers, Hookings as an actor and Hardman in visual effects. 

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Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner, The Party) plays the brilliant and controversial architect Alfred Rott who accepts an unusual commission from an eccentric billionaire who calls himself ‘the Grand Duke of Corsica’, played by Peter Stormare (John Wick, Fargo).

As Rott navigates his way through an increasingly bizarre world on the Mediterranean island of Malta, he comes to realise the Grand Duke’s mausoleum he has been asked to design is challenging him in a way he never imagined. When the Duke falls gravely ill as the result of a deadly new virus, Alfred and the Grand Duke form an unusual and unexpected friendship. A parallel story about the life of St. Francis of Assisi lends added complexity and richness to Graham’s script which brings both pathos and humour to an eternal tale of corruption, greed, life and death.

Hookings and Hardman honed their craft on a slew of award-winning short films before making their feature film debut with the crime drama Winter Ridge in 2017. Hookings, the son of British heavyweight champion boxer David Pearce built a career as an actor and stunt performer on Hollywood productions before starting his award-winning production company Camelot Films. “We took our skills and experiences from the Hollywood films and applied them to our indie world of filmmaking,” says Hookings.