In an interview with the Calgary Herald the acclaimed American novelist of The Sweet Hereafter and the recent Lost Memory of Skin, Russell Banks has confirmed that his novel The Darling will soon be adapted for the big-screen.
The project was previously set to be a Martin Scorsese’s follow up to The Aviator in 2004 with Cate Blanchett starring, but his plans fell through.
Now comes word from the novelist that Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is set to direct Banks own screenplay adaptation of The Darling novel and that Jessica Chastain has been cast in the main role.
So, the Weather Underground name rose up again, fortunately in film industry. Besides, Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep, now we have The Darling. Lucky them.
All jokes aside, Darling tells the story of a former member of the Weather Underground named Hannah Musgrave who marries a Liberian government official while on the run from the FBI. In fact, the story is set against twenty-five years of political struggle and civil war in Liberia.
Chastain, who would be working with Villeneuve in the lead role of Hannah Musgrave, already has a schedule consisting of Andres Muschietti‘s Mama, then Joseph Kosinski’s Horizons next year and not yet confirmed the Princess Diana biopic Caught In Flight.
Villeneuve’s 2010 film Incendies represented Canada at the 83rd Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. As for now he is still attached to direct the Black List script Prisoners.
More updates as they come.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqueRPdENFM[/youtube]
Incendies – Trailer
Source: Calgary Herald
