Metfilm Production picks up film rights to Philby's Edith and Kim

Charlotte Philby’s latest novel Edith and Kim (The Borough Press) has been picked up by Metfilm Production for a film adaptation.

The deal was negotiated by Emily Hayward-Whitlock at The Artists Partnership on behalf of Julia Silk at Greyhound Literary Agency. Philby has been brought on-board as screenwriter. Stewart le Maréchal and Anna Mohr-Pietsch will produce.

The novel draws on the British secret intelligence files on Vienna-born Jewish communist Edith Tudor-Hart along with the private archive letters of notorious double agent Kim Philby. The book powerfully rewrites the story of the Cambridge spies and explores themes of love, betrayal, freedom and belonging.

Philby said: “Edith Tudor-Hart is a phenomenal character, whose endeavours as a photographer, lover, mother and spy could hardly have been made up. Adapting her story for screen, interwoven with that of my grandfather, Kim, whom she recruited to the Soviet cause, is both a dream come true and an exciting challenge. I couldn’t be more delighted to be working on this with the team at MetFilm, whose passion for this story shone through from our very first meeting. I am hugely impressed by their past work, with their clear understanding of the questions at the heart of Edith and Kim, and as we begin this journey I have great faith in our shared vision for an adaptation that will thrill, move, and provoke, in all the right ways.” 

Le Maréchal and Mohr-Pietsch said: “We are thrilled to be working with Charlotte to adapt her extraordinary novel for the screen. In Edith and Kim, Charlotte offers a truly fresh perspective on the spy thriller and introduces us to a remarkable modern heroine through her meticulous research and rich imagination. Edith Tudor-Hart was a talented, dogged, complex woman who protected both her beliefs and her family to the bitter end, and there is no one more qualified than Charlotte to bring her story to cinema audiences. We can’t wait to dive in.”

Ann Bissell, editorial director at The Borough Press, also commented: "Charlotte has achieved something quite remarkable in her novel Edith and Kim – she has revived a woman previously written out of history, adding life and colour, passion and purpose to someone who has been wrongfully excluded from the much-told story of the Cambridge Spies for a very long time. I’m thrilled that the novel has been optioned by MetFilm and that Charlotte will be behind the adaptation.”