‘The King’s Speech’ Deepak Sikka Executive Producing ‘Black Gold’

The U.K.’s Deepak Sikka, who executive produced the multi-Oscar-winning “The King’s Speech” and produced Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed,” has boarded “Black Gold” (working title), the first fiction co-production between the U.K. and Costa Rica.

He joins Gramercy Park Media co-founder-partner Joshua Harris (Guy Ritchie’s “In the Grey”), London-based Costa Rican actor Jose Palma (Netflix’s “The Liberator”) in his first producing effort, and San Jose-based producer Esteban Quesada, whose credits include Hernán Jimenez’s “April” and who worked on the production of the first “Paddington Bear” movie when it shot in Costa Rica.

“This is a strong Costa Rican-British co-production, the first of its kind for our market, as well as another push to tell more Latin American stories in the industry,” Palma told Variety, adding:

“I was once told, ‘If you want to know the future, ask a historian.’ In light of everything that is currently happening in the States, we are determined to shed light on our country’s history, which may reflect our present.” Palma, who has been spearheading the project, will play former Costa Rican president José María Montealegre, who plays a pivotal role in the film.

“’Black Gold’ is a historical drama set in mid-19th-century Costa Rica. It tells a story never before shown in Costa Rican cinema, about how coffee, one of the country’s main exports, played a key role in its people’s fight for freedom. With its large scale and ambition, ‘Black Gold’ aims to be the biggest film production in Costa Rica’s history,” said Quesada, who also produced the Chelsea Film Festival Incubator program in New York, where he oversaw the production of short films by new BIPOC alongside Oscar-winning screenwriter Martin Strange-Hansen.

The search is on for a female Costa Rican…