According to The Tracking Board, Casey Affleck (Triple 9) is the first actor cast in an upcoming adaptation of My Abandonment, based on Peter Rock’s fictional novel inspired by a true story. Debra Granik both adapted and directed 2010’s gritty survival backwoods story Winter’s Bone, garnering Oscar nominations for the film as well as for star Jennifer Lawrence in her first Oscar nod. With this latest project, Granik will again adapt and direct a film depicting survival outside of mainstream society.
The story follows 13 year-old Caroline who lives with her war veteran father on the fringe of society in a Portland, Oregon nature preserve. Their life in the woods offers idyllic adventure but is also marked by her father’s PTSD symptoms. When a jogger discovers where they live, their world is turned upside down, and Caroline is torn between her loyalty to her father and her desire to adapt to the larger world of civilization.
Granik’s producing partner Anne Rosellini is also co-script writer. Rosellini will produce with Linda Reisman and Anne Harrison of ReVision Films (The Danish Girl).
Affleck recently starred in the crime thriller Triple 9, and in the earnest Coast Guard rescue drama The Finest Hours opposite Chris Pine (Star Trek Beyond). He stars in Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea which premiered early this year at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and will open in limited release on November 18th. He is set to direct the adventure-western Far Bright Star starring Joaquin Phoenix (Irrational Man).
Shooting will begin this fall in Portland.