Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Brad Pitt’s Fury to close London Film Festival

World War II drama’s director calls the decision a great honour

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Friday 15 August 2014 06:33 EDT
Comments
Fury will close this year's BFI London Film Festival
Fury will close this year's BFI London Film Festival (BFI )

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Fury, the World War II drama starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf, has been revealed as the British Film Institute’s choice to close the 58 annual London Film Festival.

The film is written and directed by David Ayer, known for End Of Watch, and follows the story of battle-hardened sergeant known as “Wardaddy”, played by Pitt, as he leads a crew of five men inside a Sherman tank on a deadly mission behind enemy lines, in the final months of the war, April 1945.

It stars Pitt as Don “Wardaddy” Collier, LaBeouf as Boyd Swan, Michael Peña as Trini Garcia and Jon Bernthal as Grady Travis.

Both Pitt and Ayer have been confirmed to attend the Closing Night Gala for the festival in Leicester Square, while the BFI will be organising a cinecast from the red carpet to screens across the UK, where simultaneous screenings will be taking place.

“It’s a true pleasure to be returning to England, where we shot the film – the fields of Oxfordshire and Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire were our home for 12 weeks last year, so it’s something of a homecoming for us to present the movie at its European premiere,” Ayer said.

“It’s a great honour for our film to be chosen,” he added.

Clare Stewart, BFI London Film Festival director said Fury is a “resounding cinematic achievement”.

“Rarely is a film so successful at balancing the human drama of war with such thrilling action sequences,” he added.

The BFI London Film Festival will open on 8 October and run until 19 October.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in