Starz’ long-planned Dangerous Liaisons TV series is set to film outside Prague, from 6 April for 25 weeks.
Written and “reimagined” by Call the Midwife writer Harriet Warner, the eight-part series will be inspired by the 18th century French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, about ex-lovers Merteuil and Valmont in the court of Louis XVI – also the basis for Christopher Hampton’s 1985 stage play and Stephen Frears’ 1988 Dangerous Liaisons feature – but will tell the story from the female perspective of Merteuil.
This will be a huge further boost to the Czech Republic, which is also hosting a major prequel to the film Wonder set in WW2, called White Bird, directed by Marc Forster (Christopher Robin, Quantum of Solace), and produced by Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.
Other big projects shooting there include the third season of Sky’s Das Boot; the Netflix adaptation of WW1 set film All Quiet on the Western Front, starring Daniel Bruhl; and French spy thriller series Operations Totems from Gaumont.
Filming is continuing because it is considered an ‘economic activity’, although the country has been struggling with Covid case numbers surpassing one million and reported deaths from the virus reaching 16,683 up to today.
There are strong filming guidelines issued by the Czech Film Commission, covering cross border passenger transport and basic safety rules for pre-production and production (https://www.visitczechrepublic.com/en-US/926179fc-1601-4cf8-b201-0b33b3878f08/page/covid-19) and latest information on their facebook page, including entry changes from 5 February.
The Dangerous Liaisons series is being produced by Colin Callender’s London- and New York-based Playground Entertainment, which recently made the Howards End mini-series for Starz and the BBC, alongside Tony Krantz’s Flame Ventures in association with the TV division of Starz owner Lionsgate.
For Starz, Callender, Krantz and Hampton will serve as executive producers along with Warner, Bethan Jones (Sherlock) and Scott Huff (The Spanish Princess). Coline Abert, James Dormer and Rita Kalnejais will also write for the series.