The Cicerones (2002)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 2002
Running Times:
Format: colour     35mm
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Sure Shot Films Co Ltd/FilmFour in association with First Foot Films
Executive Producer: Peter La Terriere
Producer: Jan Roldenus
Production Manager: Kate Murrell
Production Coordinator: Jessica Rundle

SCRIPT
Script: Jeremy Dyson
Story: Robert Aickman

DIRECTION
Director: Jeremy Dyson
1st Assistant Director: Ben Hughes
2nd Assistant Director: Tori Banks

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Jess Hall
Steadicam Operator: Derek Walker
Clapper Loader: Bob Cooke
Focus Puller: Matt Hale
Camera Trainee: Barney Crocker
Gaffer: Andy Duncan
Best Boy: Richard Oxley
Spark: Michael Hayes
Gennie Operator: Mark Packman
Stills: Raquel Dias
Grading: Dave Ludlam
Video to Film Transfer: Filmtel - The Moving Picture Company
Filmtel Operators: Matt Packham, Dickie Etchells
Stock: Fujicolor
Colour: Deluxe
Lighting Facilities: AFM Lighting
Camera and Grip Equipment: ARRI Media
Steadicam: Optical Support

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Scott Thomas
Online Editor: Will Yarrow, Adam Windmill
Editor's Assistant: Paul Clayton

MUSIC
Music: Joby Talbot

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Tim Boissand-Cooke
Boom Operator: Jason Hopliner
Dubbing Mixers: Nigel Heath, James Feitham
Sound Effects Editor: Michael Fontum
Foley Editor: Darren Banks
Sound Edited and Mixed At: Hackenbacker Studios, London

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Designer: Leslie Lamont-Fisher
Costume Designer: Yves Barre
Costume Assistant: Hannah Wood

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: Framestore-CFC
Visual Effects Producer: Jason Bartholomew
Visual Effects Artists: Nick Bennet, Lance Gaunt

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Greg Shaw
Art Director: Mark Larkin

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Helene Oosthuizen
Production Accountant: Albert Martinez Martin
Production Secretary: Nicole Meerabux
Camera Car Driver: Greg Harris
Production Runners: Ash Jackman, Katherine Armfelt, Catherine Russell
Legal Services: Tom Marr-Johnson at OJ Freeman
Motorolas Supplied By: Audiolink

LOCATIONS
Locations: St Albans Cathedral, Herts, England, UK; St Mary Magdalenes, Oxford, England, UK; Little Venice, London, England, UK; Lichfield Cathedral, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, UK
Studio: Island Studios, London, England, UK

CASTING
Casting: Tamara Gillon. Nina Gold

CAST
Mark Gatiss (John Trant)
Jane Bertish (woman on train)
Lily Power (girl on train)
Oliver Lavery-Farag (boy on train)
Blake Ritson (guide 1 'foreign')
Derek Hagen (guide 2 'American')
Rowland Stirling guide 3 'choirboy')
Ben Tibber (guide 4 'child')
David Ryall (figure in pulpit)

PLOT SUMMARY

John Trant is an Englishman abroad, exploring an Eastern European church where he hopes to find a particular painting. Instead, he meets a group of extremely strange and really rather worrying people...

CAPSULE REVIEW

Sadly, The Cicerones doesn't quite work. Gatiss' exploration of the church has some creepy moments and there's an unsettling atmosphere throughout, but the ending is a let-down and feels decidedly anti-climactic. It's clear though that both Gatiss and Dyson love the genre and one can only hope that they give the old-school ghost story another shot.

TIMELINE

2002
August
25: UK - shown at the London FrightFest 2002

2004
March
15: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

REFERENCES

OTHER SOURCES

56th Edinburgh Film Festival Catalogue (2002) p.172 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

churches, ghosts, paintings

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008