EXCLUSIVE: After winning a pair of Emmys as director and executive producer of Hell Jumper, a feature adaptation of the award-winning 2024 documentary of the same name, sources tell Deadline.
Reps for Netflix declined to comment. Directed by Paddy Wivell and originally distributed by Fremantle, Hell Jumper tells the story of civilian volunteers risking their lives to rescue people trapped by the war in Ukraine. At the heart of the doc is Chris Parry, a 28-year-old from Cornwall who leaves behind his ordinary life and puts his life on the line to drive into active combat zones and evacuate civilians.
Related Stories
Matthew Orton penned the script for the feature take and will executive produce the project. Barantini will produce alongside Samantha Beddoe via their It’s All Made Up Productions (Adolescence, Wasteman) banner, along with Kris Thykier and Georgina Gordon-Smith for Archery Pictures (Mobland, Is This Thing On?), as well as Peter Fincham and Colin Barr for Expectation (Malice, Nail Bomber: Manhunt).
Watch on Deadline
The project originated with Archery Pictures, which optioned rights to the doc, produced by Expectation. Following early conversations with Archery’s Head of Film & TV, Georgina Gordon-Smith, It’s All Made Up Productions came on board as a producing partner, joining forces with Archery Pictures, Expectation and writer Orton to develop the feature adaptation together. The collaboration builds on a long-standing mutual respect between Orton and Barantini, who had been looking for the right project to team on for some time.
Prior to his work on Adolescence, Barantini directed the film Accused for Netflix. Created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, Adolescence won eight Emmys earlier this year, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Directing – Limited or Anthology Series, where Barantini was recognized. Examining a British teen’s murder of a classmate and the way it rocks both his family and his small town, the show broke out as a cultural phenomenon upon its premiere in March, wowing with its one-take episodes to the extent that it’s now Netflix’s second most popular English-language show of all time, with 142.6M views and counting.
Barantini began his film and television career as an actor in acclaimed drama series including Band of Brothers, Dream Team, and Chernobyl, and films such as Ned Kelly. His second act came behind the camera, as director of the multi award-winning feature Boiling Point and television series including The Responder (BBC), Boiling Point (BBC), and Malpractice. Up next, Barantini is directing and exec producing another Netflix project — the hostage drama series Rabbit, Rabbit starring Adam Driver. He and his It’s All Made Up Productions are represented by CAA, Untitled, Independent Talent Group, and JSSK.
Orton is a British screenwriter who burst onto the scene with the spec Operation Finale, which MGM acquired and made, with Oscar Isaac starring and Chris Weitz directing. Most recently, he rewrote Captain America: Brave New World for Marvel. He’s also writing a Bane & Deathstroke movie for DC, adapting the novel Shibumi for Warner Bros. with Chad Stahelski attached to direct, writing a thriller for Universal with Sam Hargrave attached to direct, developing Pimpernel with Rupert Sanders, and writing an original series for Carnival in the UK.
Orton also penned a remake of Night of the Hunter for Universal, which Scott Derrickson will direct, and was hired by Disney to write both Knights Templar and Battle of Britain for Ridley Scott. Other credits include Dark Wire, an international espionage crime thriller that sold to Netflix competitively, with 21 Laps producing and Jason Bateman directing; Marvel’s Moon Knight; and South African crime thriller series Devil’s Peak, where he was creator and EP. He’s repped by WME, Untitled, The Agency, and JSSK.
