Deadline reports that Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, The Lovely Bones) is in talks to take the titular role in Roger Michell’s remake of My Cousin Rachel for Fox Searchlight, a dark romantic thriller previously captured on film in 1952 with screen legend Olivia de Havilland in the starring role.
Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s 1951 novel, the story follows a wealthy young man, Philip, who is convinced that his beloved older brother was murdered by his brother’s new wife and cousin, Rachel, whom Philip has never met. Initial hatred and plans for revenge for his brother’s widow morph into falling head over heels in love with the beautiful and enigmatic Rachel when she comes to stay with Philip for a visit. Still, her actions continue to raise suspicion – did she or did she not murder her husband, and what is Rachel really after?
Weisz has just wrapped up Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans, which is currently in post-production. The drama stars the omnipresent Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs, Macbeth) and Ex Machina’s Alicia Vikander as lighthouse keeper and his infertile wife who decide to keep a baby they rescued from an accident without reporting it to the authorities, with devastating consequences. Weisz is also working on The Theory of Everything director James Marsh’s as-yet-untitled Donald Crowhurst project for Studio Canal, alongside Oscar winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech).
Weisz will be seen next in the ensemble cast of Yorgos Lanthimo’s surreal deadpan comedy The Lobster, opening in October, followed by Paolo Sorrentino’s drama, Youth, set to bow in December 2015.
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