Murdoch bio-pic moves to Paramount

Iris Murdoch: She died in 1999 after a long-battle against Alzheimer's

A film charting the life of late writer Iris Murdoch, and set to star Dame Judi Dench, has jumped film companies after concerns over the picture's budget.

Elegy for Iris is moving to Paramount after being offloaded by Sony's Columbia Pictures.

Dame Judi Dench: She will resume her collaboration with Sir Richard Eyre

The film is an adaptation of John Bayley's memoir about his marriage to the novelist and philosopher.

Former National Theatre artistic director Sir Richard Eyre, a long-time collaborator with Dame Judi, is to direct the movie.

The movie has been described as a "pet project" of Sony Pictures chairman John Calley.

But studio officials wanted to make the film at $5m (£3.5m) but Sir Richard has put the budget at up to $9m (£6.2m).

Debut feature

The former theatre chief took the project to producer Scott Rudi, responsible for the recent Shaft remake, who may put the picture into production before anticipated strikes from the actors and writers guild next year.

The project would be Sir Richard's debut feature film for an American studio.

Elegy for Iris charts Bayley and Murdoch's first encounter more than 40 years ago while teaching together at Oxford, their marriage together and the writer's subsequent struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

Sir Richard recently directed Dame Judi in David Hare's Amy's View on Broadway, which earned the actress a coveted Tony award.

Iris Murdoch died in February 1999 after a long battle against Alzheimer's Disease.

She published 26 novels and some, such as The Bell, The Sea The Sea and The Sacred and Profane Love Machine, are acknowledged modern classics.

The Italian Girl and A Severed Head were adapted for the stage.