SA director Oliver Hermanus to helm international film Living starring Bill Nighy

• South African director Oliver Hermanus' next feature film has been announced.
• Living will star Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood.
• It is an adaptation of the 1952 Japanese drama Ikiru.

Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Hermanus will direct Living starring Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood.

The screenplay by novelist Kazuo Ishiguro is an adaptation of 1952 Japanese drama Ikiru, reports Variety.

Sharing the news on Twitter, Oliver wrote: "I'm thrilled to be at the helm of this."

According to Deadline, the film set in London in 1952 will follow Williams, a civil servant how has become a small cog in the bureaucracy of rebuilding post-WWII England. When he learns that he has a terminal illness, he goes on a quest to find some meaning to his dull life. He befriends a young co-worker who shows him how to harness his experience and dedication for one last project.

About the film, Oliver said: "At the heart of Living is the message that one's purpose, one's footprint can be incremental, slight and somewhat unnoticeable in the grand scheme of things," reports Variety.

"But that these attainable efforts to help others and be a force of good in the world are what life and living is about. I think the world could use more stories like this, perhaps now more than ever before", he added.

Oliver's most recent project Moffie, which follows a young conscript during his military service in South Africa, received worldwide critical acclaim.

Compiled by Leandra Engelbrecht (Sources: Variety, Deadline)