Jack O’Connell and Odessa A’zion will direct the end of the world as we know it

Ross White and Tom Berkeley, the filmmaking duo behind the Academy Award and BAFTA-winning short film “An Irish Goodbye,” have teamed up with Studiocanal, Working Title, Parkville Pictures and Film4 for their first feature film and landed two extremely in-demand stars as leads.

“The End of the World as We Know It” will see BAFTA winner Jack O’Connell (“Ink”) and BAFTA nominee Odessa A’zion (“Marty Supreme”) play two star-crossed loners who meet on an epic pilgrimage to prove the earth is flat.

Described as an “improbable adventure in truth and love,” the film is written and directed by Berkeley and White, and production is expected to begin in Canada in November. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produce for Working Title Films, while for Parkville, Olivier Kaempfer (who previously worked with Studiocanal to produce the recent dark comedy “Everybody Wants to F— Me” with Taron Egerton and with Working Title on the romantic comedy “Finding Emily,” released earlier this year by Focus).

“The End of the World as We Know It” is entirely financed by Studiocanal. Film4 will co-finance and produce the film. Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin will executive produce for Studiocanal. Katherine Pomfret and Thea Paulett will serve as executive producers for Working Title. Notable Studios’ Amanda Drake is EP. Studiocanal will distribute the film theatrically across its territories in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand, and is also handling worldwide sales.

“‘The End of the World as We Know It’ is a story we discovered hidden in the strangest of places, but one that seems to speak deeply to our collective search for meaning, belonging, and love in an increasingly disparate world,” Berkeley and White said. “We feel extremely lucky to have the inimitable Jack O’Connell and Odessa A’zion bringing these doomed loners to life and, with the support of the wonderful teams at Studiocanal, Working Title, Parkville and Film4, we can’t wait to take audiences on their unique cinematic journey.”

White and Berkeley’s short black comedy “An Irish Goodbye,” starring Seamus O’Hara, James Martin, Paddy Jenkins and Michelle Fairley, became an awards season hit after playing at more than 60 international film festivals in 2022 and 2023. After two estranged brothers reunited in rural Northern Ireland following the death of their mother, the film won the 2023 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film, the BAFTA award for best British film. Short Film and the IFTA Prize for best short film.

“End of the World as We Know It” sees Studiocanal reunite with long-time collaborators Working Title following the recent worldwide release of “Pressure”. Working titles from other recent releases including “Sense and Sensibility”, “Finding Emily”, “The Sheep Detectives”, “Crime 101”, “Goodbye June”, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy”, “The Substance” and the upcoming title “Werwulf”.

Studiocanal’s upcoming slate includes Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” which opened the Venice Film Festival, “Elsinore,” starring Andrew Scott and already racking up predictions as an awards season favorite, and “Everybody Wants to F— Me,” scheduled for release in 2027. Along with “Ink,” which launches in the U.S. on Dec. 11, Studiocanal also released the O’Connell-led “’71” in the U.K. 2014. and produced “Back to Black,” in which he starred alongside Marisa Abela.

Currently enjoying a career high point, O’Connell has several major titles coming up, including John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place Part III” alongside Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy, and Grant Sputore’s “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova,” the latest chapter in Legendary’s Monsterverse, alongside Dan Stevens, Kaitlyn Dever and the late Sam Neill. It is represented by Conway Van Gelder Grant in the UK and UTA and Range Media Partners in the US.

Since appearing in “Marty Supreme,” A’zion has landed a series regular role on Rachel Sennott’s HBO series “I Love LA” and will next star alongside Naomi Watts, Sarah Paulson, Dianne Wiest and Toby Wallace in Cody Fern’s directorial debut “Mother Courage,” as well as Justine Triet’s upcoming comedy “Fonda” alongside Andrew Scott, Allison Janey, Benedict Wong and Cherry Jones. She is represented by UTA, Luber Roklin, Granderson Des Rochers and The Lede Company.

Berkeley and White are represented by Francesca Devas at Independent Talent and Craig Kestel and Marco Alvarez at WME.