FILMMAKER DANIEL PACQUETTE SWAPS 007 FOR PREGNANCY ROM-COM DUE DATING

British director and producer Daniel Pacquette is bringing a very different kind of film to the screen with Due Dating- a pregnancy rom-com conceived and filmed while its writer and star, Jade Asha, was actually pregnant.
Pacquette’s filmmaking journey stretches from the world of James Bond and major international productions to fiercely independent British cinema.
Early in his career, he worked in video playback on major productions including the James Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, as well as Entrapment and Bill Murray comedy The Man Who Knew Too Little.
Years later, Pacquette found himself facing an entirely different filmmaking challenge: making a feature film against a genuine pregnancy clock.
When actress, writer and producer Jade Asha discovered she was pregnant, Pacquette was one of the first people she told. She also had an idea.
What if they made a romantic comedy exploring what it would actually be like to date while pregnant — and filmed it during the pregnancy itself?
That idea became DUE DATING.
With Asha seven months pregnant, Pacquette directed the entire feature in an intense 14-day shoot, turning the realities and limitations of pregnancy into part of the film’s creative DNA.
Their collaboration, however, began before Due Dating. Pacquette had previously cast Asha as the lead in his feature As Bad As Me, beginning a filmmaker-actor partnership that would eventually develop into producing and creating films together.
Due Dating explores pregnancy, modern dating, relationships, judgement and female autonomy through the accessible – and often chaotic – world of romantic comedy.
For Pacquette, the film also represents the evolution of a career that has taken him from working behind the scenes on some of the world’s biggest productions to creating independent British features from the ground up.
DANIEL PACQUETTE SAID:
“When Jade told me she was pregnant, she already had this idea about dating while pregnant. Suddenly we had a story – but we also had a very real deadline.

“By the time we filmed, Jade was seven months pregnant. We had 14 days to shoot a feature film, and there was absolutely no option of pushing the pregnancy back if we fell behind.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work on huge productions including Bond films, but independent filmmaking is a completely different challenge. You have to find solutions constantly, and Due Dating is a film that really exists because we decided not to wait for permission to make it.”
Pacquette and Asha are also passionate about increasing representation both in front of and behind the camera.
Coming from backgrounds historically underrepresented within the British film industry, the pair have focused on creating their own opportunities and putting characters and perspectives on screen that have not always been at the centre of mainstream British filmmaking.