The Great Escaper | Michael Caine

[Himmel]

Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson — both two-time Oscar winners with 10 nominations between them — are teaming up for The Great Escaper, based on real events about a WWII veteran who breaks out of his care home to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France.

Pathe is co-producing the film and will be presenting it to buyers at the European Film Market next month.

In the summer of 2014 — the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings — octogenarian Bernard "Bernie" Jordan (Caine) made global headlines. He staged a "great escape" from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy, commemorating their fallen comrades.

It was a story that captured the imagination of the world: Bernie seemed to embody the defiant, "can-do" spirit of a generation that was fast disappearing. "But of course, it wasn’t the whole story. It was the story we all tell ourselves to make war and old age bearable," according to a plot description.  "The bitter-sweet script explores the reality with wit and a very big heart. Bernie’s adventure, spanning a mere 48 hours, also marked the culmination of his 60-year marriage to Irene (Jackson). The story celebrates their love without sentimentality and with an eye to the lessons we might all learn from the Greatest Generation."

The film will be directed by BAFTA nominee Oliver Parker (An Ideal Husband) from a script by BAFTA nominee William Ivory (Made in Dagenham) and is scheduled to start principal photography in June this year. •••