Cape Town Killed As Venue For New Kristen Stewart Movie
Kristen Stewart’s new movie, The Big Shoe, was to have been filmed in and around the city of Cape Town in South Africa next year. However, it seems the film makers ran afoul of the government of South Africa, and the project has been killed.
Hollywood actress Stewart is to play the lead in the new up and coming movie, The Big Shoe. Her character is Delphi, both a foot model and sex worker, who helps out a shoe designer who is lacking inspiration. According to GossipCop, the film was slated to also feature Jim Sturgess and Elizabeth Banks.
According to the London-based film company, Bankside Films, the movie “is a daring and comedic romance about an unusual, creatively stifled shoe designer, Nate, and his new-found muse, Delphi, who helps inspire him to resume his brilliant designs.”
According to News24, there was a lot of hype in the local and foreign press about Stewart’s movie project being filmed in Cape Town, and the U.S. director, Steven Shainberg visited the quaintly termed “Mother City” to scout locations for shooting and for some local talent to star in and help produce the film.
Filming was supposed to start in October next year, but following a funding altercation with the South African government, Cape Town is no longer an option, and local film makers are placing the blame squarely on the Arts and Culture Department in the city.
There was to be joint funding for the film with a local production company working together with the Hollywood producers. In fact, as at March 3, 2014, ZAR32 million ($2,760,580) was approved as financing for the film in a partnership dubbed the S.A. Film Fund. However, in the meantime, Paul Mashatile, who was involved in the deal, was replaced by Nathi Mthethwa as the arts and culture minister, and the film makers received only ZAR4 million (around $350,000). Enquiries about the funding have remained unanswered since the change in ministers.
The projects co-producer in Cape Town, Anton Ernst, said they didn’t even send him one email explaining the situation, and he was “heartbroken” as the production would have included several trainee staff from formerly disadvantaged backgrounds.
Ernst said Mashatile, the former arts and culture minister, had seen a great future in the film-making partnership, which has now been destroyed by politics. So far, it is not sure what the fate of the film is to be.
While Cape Town has now lost out on a great opportunity due to lack of cash, Kristin Stewart herself is, of course, not short of money. She grew to fame playing Bella Swan in the popular Twilight series of films, and in 2012, she was apparently the highest-paid actress in the world.
There are problems with her love life, however. At the beginning of December, Inquisitr reported that Robert Pattinson (Kristen Stewart’s former boyfriend) and FKA Twigs might be in love. Apparently, Stewart thought it was a fling, and she hoped it wouldn’t lead to anything.
[Image source: CC by-SA Eva Rinaldi]
