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Exclusive: Andrea Riseborough joins Shepherds and Butchers ahead of June shoot.

Birdman star Andrea Riseborough is to star opposite Steve Coogan (Philomena) in apartheid drama Shepherds and Butchers.

WestEnd Films has launched Cannes sales on the project from Oliver Schmitz, director of 2012 Un Certain Regard entry Life, Above All, with shoot due to get underway in South Africa on June 15.

Cox’s script, adapted from the novel of the same name, sees a hotshot lawyer (Coogan) face his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men.

Anant Singh (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) and Brian Cox (Kite) produce the drama for Distant Horizon and Videovision Entertainment. Sudhir Pragjee, Sanjeev Singh and Basil Ford are executive producers.

Production design and costume design come from District 9 duo Mike Berg and Diana Cilliers, respectively.

“The film deals with the death penalty, which is a controversial issue globally and we believe...

Oliver Schmitz to direct Philomena star.

Steve Coogan (Philomena) is to star in Shepherds and Butchers, an apartheid-era drama about a jaded lawyer, who takes on a seemingly hopeless multiple murder case and uncovers scandalous shortcomings in South Africa’s capital punishment system.

The film will be directed by Oliver Schmitz, whose mother-daughter drama Life, Above All played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand in 2010.

Anant Singh’s Distant Horizon will produce Shepherds and Butchers, which is due to shoot in South Africa in June and will be sold by WestEnd at Cannes.

Singh (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) and Brian Cox (Kite) are producing for Distant Horizon and Videovision Entertainment.

Executive producers are Sudhir Pragjee, Sanjeev Singh and Basil Ford.

Singh said: “We are pleased to be working with WestEnd Films as Eve, Sharon and their team are passionate about our film. We have been friends for a long time and have acquired their films for distribution...