Word comes from AFM (the American Film Market) that Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture, starring Rooney Mara, Vanessa Redgrave, Eric Bana, Jack Reynor and Theo James, will have US distribution from Relativity Media.
Relativity Studios has acquired US rights to Jim Sheridan’s big screen adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s novel, ‘The Secret Scripture.’ The Ireland-centric story centers on a 100-year old woman who has been in a mental hospital since World War II, where she was wrongly branded a nymphomaniac. With the facility closing, a psychiatrist tries to piece together why the woman is there, not knowing she has been hiding a diary under the floorboards.
With production set to commence in December, Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave are to play younger and older versions of the woman, who’s narrative becomes a chronicle not only of her deep emotions, but also of a turbulent era in her country’s history, from the upheavals of the Irish civil war to the German bombing of Belfast during World War II. Eric Bana will play a rebellious doctor who is responsible for reviewing Roseanne’s (Mara) case, Theo James will play a local Catholic priest and Jack Reynor a member of the British army and Mara’s love interest.
Noel Pearson of Ferndale Films is the producer. Ingenious Senior Film Fund, the Irish Film Board and European Media Fund are the joint financiers.
James recently wrapped production on the QED pic “Franny” opposite Dakota Fanning and can also be seen in the ensemble pic “London Fields.” As for “Insurgent,” the next installment in the “Divergent” franchise, James is still filming the pic and will go immediately into “The Secret Scripture” following “Insurgent” production.
Reynor is coming off his breakthrough perf in “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” which recently crossed $1 billion at the global box office. Reynor will next be seen opposite Michael Fassbender in “Macbeth” and can also be seen in “Glasslands.”
Bana has been very busy in the last year, appearing in three pics that included Focus’ “Closed Circuit,” Universal’s “Lone Survivor” and Screen Gems’ “Deliver Us From Evil.”
All three actors are repped by WME. James is also repped by Markham Froggatt and Irwin while Bana is also repped by Robert Offer at Sloane Offer .
