TMG Presents Moby Dick TV Event

MUNICH: The Tele München Group (TMG) is producing a new screen adaptation of the literary classic Moby Dick, with RTL, ORF and RHI Entertainment as partners on the project.

William Hurt takes on the role of the one-legged Captain Ahab. Starring alongside Hurt is Ethan Hawke as the stalwart and experienced first officer Starbuck. Budgeted at $25.5 million, Moby Dick is the most expensive production to date in the 40-year history of TMG. The TV event will be presented at MIPCOM and is scheduled for completion in fall 2010. Moby Dick is produced by Rikolt von Gagern, who, with his company Gate Film, was behind TMG’s The Sea Wolf.

Herbert Kloiber, the chairman and majority shareholder of TMG, said: "We are delighted to have signed up two such powerful, charismatic and versatile actors as William Hurt and Ethan Hawke for the lead roles in Moby Dick. With Mike Barker we have a director who stunningly confirmed his seaworthiness in the production of the The Sea Wolf, and who is able to transpose the entire narrative power of the story to the screen. Through his directing and Nigel Williams’ script, we are laying a solid foundation for a TV event that will captivate viewers all over the world."