Deadline is reporting that Russell Crowe (The Nice Guys) and Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) are set to lead the cast of Rothko, a biographical drama about the American painter Mark Rothko and his daughter Kate’s protracted legal battle to honour his legacy.
The film is being directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, and will see Crowe and Franciosi starring alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Tenet), Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) and Jared Harris (Chernobyl).
As per Deadline, Rothko is adapted from Lee Seldes’ book The Legacy Of Mark Rothko and will explore the “protracted legal dispute between Kate Rothko and the painter’s estate executors and the directors of his gallery, Marlborough Fine Art.” The cast ultimately led to revelations of greed, abuses of power and conspiracy, shocking many in the art world.
“Rothko is not just a movie about the great artist, but rather a timeless story about right versus wrong,” said Sam Taylor-Johnson. “It’s Kate Rothko’s journey to protect the seminal paintings from the corrupt men who betrayed her father and stole his art; it is a reckoning with men in positions of power who try everything to destroy her father’s legacy.”
Rothko is slated to begin principal photography in the summer, with Sam Taylor-Johnson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson producing alongside Rising Son’s Jared Freedman and David Silverton.
