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HANS ZIMMER AND CHRISTIAN LUNDBERG
CREATE SOUNDTRACK FOR
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
Cannes/London: Sunday 10th October 2021
EMBARGO: 6pm (UK), 7pm (CET), 10am (PT)
Slim Film + Television and Federation Entertainment today announce at Canneseries in France, that legendary
composer Hans Zimmer, Bleeding Fingers composer Christian Lundberg, and score producer Russell Emanuel
have created an electrifying soundtrack for Around The World In 80 Days starring David Tennant, Ibrahim
Koma and Leonie Benesch. The first two episodes of the eight-part series receives its World Premiere at the
opening night of the Canneseries & MIPCOM festival on Sunday 10th October at 9pm.
Hans Zimmer, Composer said, « It was a great honour to help bring the iconic Jules Verne tale to life with such
an amazing team. During this time as the world stood still and no one could travel, it was thrilling to experience
the wonders of the world though Phileas Fogg. I’m excited for everyone to see it and be inspired. »
Simon Crawford Collins, Executive Producer said, “It was a bit of a pinch myself moment, to be honest. I mean,
who wouldn’t be excited to get a call saying Hans Zimmer was interested in scoring the music to their show?”
Following a series of meetings in 2019 between Russell Emanuel and Simon Crawford Collins, it transpired
that Bleeding Fingers Music was keen to move into drama scoring for the wider international market and
Around The World In 80 Days was the perfect vehicle for that. Hans began working on the main title theme
with Bleeding Fingers composer Christian Lundberg. It was then decided that Christian would go on to score
the series, with Hans and Russell as score producers.
Crawford Collins adds, “When Russell sent over Hans’ initial ideas incorporating the striking of Big Ben, we
knew we had something really special and perfect for the tone of 80 Days. Music is an absolute passion of
mine and working with Hans and the team has been a career highlight and a huge privilege, not to mention a
brilliant and collaborative process. What Hans, Russell and Christian have achieved truly lifts the show to
another level again.”
David Tennant (Des, Good Omens) plays Phileas Fogg alongside French actor Ibrahim Koma (OSS 177, Wulu)
as Fogg’s irrepressible valet, Passepartout and Leonie Benesch (The Crown, Babylon Berlin) as determined and
headstrong journalist, Abigail ‘Fix’ Fortescue.
Also starring as series regulars are Jason Watkins (Des, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies) as Fix’s father
and newspaper owner, Bernard Fortescue and Peter Sullivan (Poldark, The Borgias) as Fogg’s sceptical
childhood friend, Nyle Bellamy with whom Fogg makes an outrageous wager to circumnavigate the globe in
eighty days.
The series, adapted by a team of renowned writers led by Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars, The Living and the
Dead) and Caleb Ranson (Child of Mine, Heartless), is a truly international drama, helmed by film, television
and music video director Steve Barron (The Durrells, Treasure Island) with the late director Charles Beeson (The
Mentalist, Supernatural) and Brian Kelly (Downton Abbey, Outlander) also directing a number of episodes. The
producer is Peter McAleese (The Gunman, Harley & The Davidsons).
Around The World In 80 Days is a Slim Film + Television and Federation co-production for the European
Alliance formed by France Télévisions, ZDF and RAI, with additional co-production partners, Peu
Communications in South Africa, MASTERPIECE in the US, Be-FILMS and RTBF in Belgium and associate
produced by Daro Film. France Télévisions introduced the project to their Alliance broadcasting partners;
Germany’s ZDF and Italy’s RAI, while Seven West Media have backed production and will broadcast the
drama in Australia. The series has been acquired by BBC in the UK and RTS in Switzerland.
Around The World In 80 Days is executive produced by Simon Crawford Collins for Slim, Lionel Uzan and
Pascal Breton for Federation, Winnie Serite for Peu Communications and Susanne Simpson for MASTERPIECE.
The series benefits from the support of the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation) of South Africa, and from
the Creative Europe Program MEDIA.
Federation Entertainment are handling distribution rights to the series.
Press contacts:
Richard Dobbs and Una Maguire
Milk Publicity
Tel +44 (0)7793 535 697 Tel +44 (0)7801 036 272
richard@milkpublicity.com una@milkpublicity.com
About Slim Film + TelevisionSlim is a specialist drama production company committed to making the very best dramas for the UK and
international market.
Under the guidance of MD Simon Crawford Collins, the company works with some of the most exciting writers
in the UK, and beyond, to produce hugely entertaining, adventurous and emotional dramas that have simply
great characters at their core. Simon was previously joint Managing Director at Kudos where he produced
some of the most era-defining dramas of recent years including Spooks, Hustle and Ashes to Ashes. Slim aims
to continue the tradition of making platform-defining television that lives long in the audiences’ memory.
Slim’s award-winning returning series Mystic, for CBBC and TVNZ, recently aired to great critical acclaim,
with a second and third series currently in production. In 2021, Slim completed its epic 8-part adaptation
of Around The World In 80 Days starring David Tennant in the iconic role of Phileas Fogg, as a major global
event drama for Christmas 2021.
Filmed on location in Romania and South Africa, Around the World in 80 Days is a Slim Film + Television and
Federation co-production for the European Alliance (France Télévisions, ZDF and RAI). The BBC will broadcast
the series in the UK.
Slim recently announced the management buyback of all its shares and is now a completely independent
company.
About Bleeding Fingers Music
Founded by Hans Zimmer, Steve Kofsky, and Russell Emanuel, Emmy-winning and BAFTA-nominated Bleeding
Fingers Music (a joint venture between RCI Global and Extreme Music, the production music arm of Sony Music
Publishing) has assembled an exceptional, sonically diverse composer roster, each selected for their unique
and complementary skills to create superlative original film and television score. We believe that collaboration
breeds innovation and working in an environment where the gifted are empowered to be adventurous,
experimental and creatively generous results in extraordinary music. Our 20 state-of-the-art studios based on Hans Zimmer’s world-renowned Santa Monica campus and our best-in-class production team allow us to produce music at the very highest standard.
About Federation Entertainment
Based in Paris, Los Angeles and now Rome, Federation Entertainment has quickly established itself as a top
indie European studio. Its model of development, production, distribution and marketing is at the service of
premium original content specifically designed for the global marketplace.
Created and launched in 2013 by president Pascal Breton, Federation is co-headed by Lionel Uzan, CEO,
and founders David Michel (head of Cottonwood Media, the Kids company of the group), Stephane Sperry
and Serge Hayat. Thierry Sorel joined the team in 2016 followed by Benoit Lacombe in 2017 as COO. Ashley
Stern heads the LA office.
Federation is now expanding into non-scripted content, teaming up with WeMake. Founded in June 2017 by
Bouchra Réjani (former COO of Shine France), WeMake focuses on the creation and production of original,
unscripted content for all platforms, in all genres.
Patrick Wachsberger (ex co-chairman of Lionsgate Motion Pictures) and Federation have recently joined
forces to create Picture Perfect Federation, a joint venture dedicated to premium television content for both
US and international markets.
Federation’s prestigious portfolio includes The Bureau (40 X 52’, TOP – The Oligarchs Productions /Federation
for CANAL+), Marseille (16 X 52’, a Netflix Original series produced by Federation); Hostages (22 X 45’,
an Israelian thriller coproduced by Yezirah Ivrit and Federation); Bad Banks (6 X 52’, a German financial
thriller coproduced by Letterbox Filmproduktion and Iris Productions for ZDF and Arte France)
; Undercover (10 X 50’, a thriller produced by De Mensen for VRT) ; The Twelve (10×52′), a fascinating
psychological thriller produced by Eyeworks, in competition at Canneseries 2019 ; Torn, a romantic 6 X 52’
thriller in competition at Series Mania 2019… as well as Find Me In Paris (78 X 26′) the premium live action
hit for tweens coproduced by ZDF and Paris Opera dance school, and the animated series Ollie & Moon (104
X 11′) and Squish (52 X 13′), on the kids side
