Dee Rees, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated Mudbound, is teaming up with Netflix again to adapt Joan Didion’s 1996 novel The Last Thing He Wanted into film starring Anne Hathaway.
Set against the backdrop of the Iran-Contra Affair, The Last Thing He Wanted is the story of Elena McMahon, a journalist who enters the family business of making arms deals. McMahon will be played by Hathaway.
Mudbound was Netflix’s first ever big push for an Oscar, and the move has been debated across the industry ever since. While the film was nominated for Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actress (Mary J. Blige), it definitely didn’t live up to the promise of its Sundance debut, which some blame on the inexperience and nature of the streaming platform’s release strategy. It is therefore intriguing that Rees is sticking by Netflix for this next picture, and how that will play out with the prestige-film-loving public.
Rees and Marco Villalobos co-wrote the script, and Rees will produce alongside Cassian Elwes.
Principal photography for the film is set to begin this summer.
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