Former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has landed his next lead role in a Cold War biopic titled Whispers of Freedom.
According to Deadline, Thor: The Dark World star Eccleston and A Royal Affair actor Thomas W. Gabrielsson have rounded out the cast of the British-German co-production.
Based on a true story and set in East Berlin in the 1980s, Whispers of Freedom tells the story of a young East German named Chris Gueffroy, the last person who was shot and the second-last person to die while trying to flee to the West across the Berlin Wall.
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Directed by Brandon Ashplant, the film will follow the lead-up to Gueffroy's attempted escape from the isolated Eastern Bloc state.
Eccleston, aka the Ninth Doctor, will play East German radio personality Herbert Köfer in voice only; Gabrielsson, will star as Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson.
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Joining Eccleston and Gabrielsson on the cast are The Last Bus actor Cameron Ashplant as Chris Gueffroy, Sister Act's Wendy Makkena as Karin Gueffroy, Masters of the Air star Darragh Cowley as Christian Gaudian, and Raiders of the Lost Ark's Paul Freeman as Erich Honecker.
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Lending their support to the movie are leading historians, institutions and authors from Germany, including the Berlin Wall Memorial's Dr. Sarah Bornhorst and the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship who act as historical consultants.
They are joined by Lead Historical Adviser Katja Hoyer, who also serves as Technical Consultant. Serving executive producers are the DDR Museum's Gordon Freiherr von Godin, Sören Marotz and Stefan Wolle.
Principal photography on the project recently wrapped with production taking place on location in the former east of Berlin as well as in the UK.
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
