Stephen Frears, Christopher Hampton talk about 'Mr. Wilder & Me' financial hurdles

Stephen Frears, the Oscar-nominated director of The Queen, has recently admitted that he is having difficulty in finding funding for the film adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s novel Mr. Wilder & Me which was announced back in 2024 despite having a strong cast.

The novel explores Hollywood director Billy Wilder’s struggles to make his film Fedora.

Frears along with screenwriter Christopher Hampton told Deadline “We’d like to make it happen but it’s a difficult time for finding money,” shortly after the duo received a life-time achievement award at the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival in France.

Moreover, Hampton revealed that he is making the revised version of his 1985 stage play Dangerous Liaisons for Theater Production in 2026, and said, “Looking at it again now, there are a few things that need attention.”

The of 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons was screened recently and Hampton received an Oscar for best writing.

The duo also recalled their experience of making Dangerous Liaisons, and Frears said, “It’s always good to have other people making the same film. It puts a rocket up your a***”.

He further added, “We did a lot of work on planes because the whole thing was such a tremendous rush. Every trip we made, we did quite a lot of work going through the script… breaking it down a bit.”