Adrian Sturges

10 Producers to Watch

By ADAM DAWTREY

With his fifth film, "The Disappearance of Alice Creed," premiering at Toronto, Adrian Sturges has proved himself one of Blighty's solid and consistent young producers.

That's why he's increasingly getting invited by bigger names -- Alison Owen at Ruby, Paul Webster at Kudos and Marc Samuelson at CinemaNX -- to partner on their projects.

Sturges produced "Alice Creed," a twisty kidnap thriller by newbie writer-director J. Blakeson, for Samuelson at NX. They are now pushing ahead with a second project together, "Albatross," a female coming-of-age story written by Tamzin Rafn and to be directed by Niall MacCormick.

"He has acquired a great rep for fair and honest dealing around town, so is trusted, not least by us," Samuelson says. "He is excellent creatively, on script, on set and in the edit, but at the same time he is not afraid to roll his sleeves up and attend to the myriad of mundane detail and logistics that is always necessary. Best of all, he is great to be around when there is a setback or a crisis."

Cambridge grad Sturges got his first job as a receptionist for veteran producer Simon Relph. He learned quickly, making shorts and then acting as U.K. co-producer on Spanish comedy "Only Human" and Irish pic "The Front Line."

Five years ago, he joined Picture Farm, which he describes as "a loose collection of individuals who work together when the time is right." They include writer-director Rupert Wyatt, for whom Sturges produced "The Escapist," actor Damien Lewis and his writer-director brother Gareth Lewis, whose debut "The Baker" was also produced by Sturges; and New York-based Ben Freedman, who co-produced Sundance prizewinning docu "Dark Days."

Now Sturges is working with Owen on "The Seagull," adapted by Christopher Hampton and to be helmed by Ian Rickson, and with Webster on "Baby Love," by writer-director John Jones. His own slate at Picture Farm includes Soho thriller "Devil Dead Donkey" and a new script by Gareth Lewis.

P.O.V.

AGE: 32

HOME BASE: London

INSPIRED BY: Paul Thomas Anderson

WEB: alicecreed.com