Sarah Paulson Joins ‘Carol’

Todd Haynes’s latest feature Carol is set to begin filming soon and the filmmaker is finished rounding out the already impressive list of actresses in his film adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Price of Milk.  Sarah Paulson, currently a part of the acclaimed ensemble of the Oscar-nominated 12 Years a Slave and the third-season of television anthology series American Horror Story: Coven, is set to join alongside Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in the romantic drama.Carol takes place in 50s-era New York – a time period that Haynes has already essayed to critical acclaim and a screenwriting Oscar nomination with his Douglas Sirk homage Far From Heaven – and follows the developing romantic relationship between a department store clerk (Mara) and an older woman (Blanchett).  Paulson is set to play an old lover and friend to Blanchett’s title character and marks a potentially promising part for the publicly out actress who has popped in several films in the past few years including Mud and Martha Marcy May Marlene and recently earned Emmy nominations for her work in American Horror Story: Asylum and HBO’s Game Change in the past two years.

Blanchett, currently Oscar-nominated for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, re-teams with Haynes after he directed her to a previous Oscar-nomination for her take on Bob Dylan in the unconventional 2007 biopic I’m Not There.  Mara co-stars in a role that was originally earmarked for Mia Wasikowka.  Carol was written by Phyllis Nagy (HBO’s Mrs. Harris) and will be released by The Weinstein Company, likely cementing itself as one of their award season entries.