‘Notting Hill’ Director Set to Adapt ‘My Cousin Rachel’ for Fox Searchlight

Fox Searchlight Pictures is looking to remake the dark romance My Cousin Rachel, with Roger Michell attached to write and direct. Based on the classic 1951 Daphne Du Maurier novel, the story follows the young orphan Phillip who believes his beautiful cousin Rachel may have been involved in the death of his guardian Ambrose. While plotting his revenge, he begins to fall under Rachel’s spell. The novel was previously adapted in 1952 and starred Olivia de Havilland (Gone With the Wind) and Richard Burton (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). While best known for his lighter romantic comedies Notting Hill and Morning Glory, Michell also has some experience with the darker sides of love in his films Enduring Love and The Messenger. Fox Searchlight is now in the process of casting the film, and Michell will in the meantime continue his work on the UK TV miniseries The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.