Fresh off the critical success of his latest film Call Me by Your Name, Variety is reporting that Luca Guadagnino is set to team up with Jennifer Lawrence for the true-crime drama Burial Rites, Variety has revealed.
Based on Hannah Kent’s 2013 novel, Burial Rites will see Lawrence producing, as well as starring as Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman publicly executed in Iceland in 1830 for the murder of two men. The film will take place “as Agnes awaits confirmation of her death sentence by the high court, a period of time that finds her reluctantly forging emotional and romantic bonds, while reflecting on her supposed crimes.”
“Luca is a rare talent. His movies capture an exquisite sense of place inextricably linked to the emotional state of the complex characters he creates,” said TriStar president Hannah Minghella. “I can’t imagine a more thrilling partnership than Luca and Jennifer coming together to bring Agnes’ beautiful and tragic story to life.”
“Luca Guadagnino is a masterful storyteller who brilliantly captures the nuance of the human condition in his films. I cannot wait for him to bring his original voice to the raw, visceral brutality, and poetry of Hannah Kent’s haunting true story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland for the murder of two men,” added producer Allison Shearmur (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). “Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrocchi, and I love this project and we could not be more excited by the way it is coming together with Hannah Minghella’s passion and drive to get it done at TriStar.”
Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name recently picked up three Golden Globe nominations and is tipped to have an impact at the upcoming Academy Awards. He has also completed a remake of the classic horror Suspiria, and is also attached to Rio, a thriller starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal. Lawrence meanwhile will next be seen in the spy thriller Red Sparrow, and returns as Mystique for next year’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
Originally published December 14, 2017. Updated December 13, 2017.
