American actor Armie Hammer and English actress Lily James are set to star in an adaption of the 1938 novel Rebecca by Dame Daphne du Maurier. Working Title production company and Netflix are behind the project with Ben Wheatley directing it.
The classic gothic novel follows an unnamed young woman who ends up marrying George Fortescue Maximilian “Maxim” de Winter, a wealthy Englishman and a recent widower. Following the wedding and honeymoon, the two return to De Winter’s estate Manderley. Throughout the book, the new Mrs. De Winters is tormented of the image of George’s first wife Rebecca and her apparent perfection to the Housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. Things start to spiral out of control as Mrs. De Winters cannot handle the psychological burden and secrets begin to unravel about Rebecca’s death and pregnancy with another man.
This is not the first time the story has been adapted, with the most notable being the 1940 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. That adaption went on to win numerous Academy Awards such as Best Picture and has been solidified as a Hollywood classic. Whether or not this remake with Hammer and James in the roles of the married couple is needed, it has the both possibility of being a chilling retelling of such an iconic tale or a misconstrued Netflix Original mess.
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