Daniel Pacquette’s ‘Due Dating’ film now on Amazon Prime
British director Daniel Pacquette brings Due Dating to the screen as a pregnancy rom-com conceived and filmed while its writer and star Jade Asha was pregnant. The story captures the essence of dating in that condition by using real circumstances to inform the narrative and production choices made under time pressure. It offers viewers an authentic glimpse into that unique situation through comedy.
Pacquette began his career in video playback on major films. These included the James Bond movies Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, in addition to Entrapment and the Bill Murray comedy The Man Who Knew Too Little. His work on these sets provided foundational skills for his later directorial efforts.
The idea for the film came about when Jade Asha informed Pacquette about her pregnancy. She suggested creating a romantic comedy that depicts the experience of dating during pregnancy and proposed filming it while the pregnancy progressed. This concept directly led to the development of Due Dating, capitalizing on the timely nature of the situation to capture genuine moments on screen.
The 14-day shoot took place when Asha was seven months pregnant. Their previous collaboration was on As Bad As Me. 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.”
Due Dating examines pregnancy, modern dating, relationships, judgement and female autonomy through the accessible and often chaotic world of romantic comedy. Pacquette and Asha come from backgrounds historically underrepresented within the British film industry. They are passionate about increasing representation both in front of and behind the camera, having 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.
Viewers can currently watch Due Dating on the Amazon Prime platform as well as on the Fawesome service, making the independent feature accessible to a wide audience seeking fresh British romantic comedies with distinctive perspectives.
