Deadline brings word that Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown) has officially signed on to star in Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming directorial debut film titled The Lost Daughter, which will be an adaptation of author Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name. In addition to Colman, Dakota Johnson (Peanut Butter Falcon), Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose) and Gyllenhaal’s husband, Golden Globe nominee Peter Sarsgaard (The Batman) have also joined the drama film.
“When I finished reading Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter, I felt that something secret and true had been said out loud. And I was both disturbed and comforted by that.” Gyllenhaal said in a statement. “I immediately thought how much more intense the experience would be in a movie theatre, with other people around. And I set to work on this adaptation. I find that the script has attracted other people interested in exploring these secret truths about motherhood, sexuality, femininity, desire. And I’m thrilled to continue my collaboration with such brave and exciting actors and filmmakers.”
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First published in 2006, Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter novel begins with Leda (Colman), a middle-aged divorcée and a college English professor who goes on a vacation on the Italian coast after her two daughters left her to visit their father in Canada. The story explores the conflicting emotions between a mother’s relationship toward her children.
Its’ official synopsis reads: “When her daughters leave home, Leda anticipates a period of loneliness and longing. Instead, slightly embarassed by the sensation, she feels liberated, as if her life has become lighter, easier. She decides to take a holiday by the sea, in a small coastal town in southern Italy. But after a few days of calm and quiet, things begin to take a menacing turn. Leda encounters a family whose brash presence proves unsettling, at times even threatening. When a small, seemingly meaningless, event occurs, Leda is overwhelmed by memories of the difficult and unconventional choices she made as a mother and their consequences for herself and her family. The apparently serene tale of a woman’s pleasant rediscovery of herself soon becomes the story of a ferocious confrontation with an unsettled past.”
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The Lost Daughter will be written and directed by Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal, who will also serve as a producer along with Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman-Keren through their Pie Films banner. Samuel Marshall Productions’ Charlie Dorfman will also produced the film and finance it alongside Endeavor Content.
(Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images)
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