Last Passenger, starring Dougray Scott and Kara Tointon, has started shooting at Shepperton Studios. The film marks the first tie-up between the BFI and The Pinewood Studios Group.

Written and directed by Omid Nooshin and produced by Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto and Zack Winfield, Last Passenger is a suspense thriller in the Hitchcockian-Spielberg tradition of an everyman thrust into an unusual situation. It sees Scott play a doctor who is caught on a runaway train.

In order to realise their ambitions for the project, the director and producers had to find innovative ways to secure the backing they needed. Their answer was to produce a dummy trailer that captured the suspense and action of the film – and they did so for a mere £500. On the back of this trailer, Pathé, which had approached the team to handle sales for the film, secured nine territories including Russia, Brazil, Turkey, Portugal and Indonesia at 2011”s Cannes Film Festival.

Last Passenger is a beneficiary of Pinewood”s new investment programme which will see the group plough around £8m into four films from first timers. Last Passenger secured in the region of £1.8m.