Luca Guadagnino is set to direct Jennifer Lawrence in Burial Rites. The news comes only weeks after the theatrical release of his latest film, Call Me By Your Name, an affecting portrait of first love set in 1983 Italy and starring Timothée Chalamet (Lady Bird) and Armie Hammer (The Social Network). Call Me By Your Name has drawn in near-unanimous acclaim, and has already begun to drum up Oscar buzz. On Monday, it picked up three Golden Globe nominations.
Guadagnino previously helmed 2009 family drama I Am Love and 2015 thriller A Bigger Splash, though Call Me By Your Name is undoubtedly his best known work. His upcoming projects include a remake of ’70s horror classic Suspiria and mystery flick Let it Fall Back, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams.
Now added to that list is Burial Rites, a true crime drama adapted from Hannah Kent’s 2013 novel of the same name. As reported by Variety, Lawrence will star as Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland in 1830. She was sentenced to death for killing her employer and another man, then burning their bodies, and was sent to an isolated farm as she awaited confirmation for her pending charges. It’s here that the film picks up, during a period of time in which Magnusdottir finds herself “reluctantly forging emotional and romantic bonds while reflecting on her supposed crimes.”
Lawrence will produce alongside Jerry Kalajian, as well as many of her Hunger Games peers, including Gary Ross (who was, at one point, rumored to direct), Allison Shearmur (Rogue One), and Justine Ciarrocchi, the latter of whom also worked with Lawrence on Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Serena.
Lawrence, for her part, has had a rockier year than Guadagnino. She led Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, which received generally positive reviews, but flopped at the box office, grossing only $44.5 million globally against a $30 million budget. The previous year, she starred in both Passengers and X-Men: Apocalypse, both of which did well financially but drew in middling reviews. Perhaps with Burial Rites, she’ll hit her stride again.
Also on the docket for Lawrence are Adam McKay drama Bad Blood, spy thriller Red Sparrow — from Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence — and X-Men: Dark Phoenix, for which she’ll reprise her role as shape-shifting blue mutant Mystique.
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A planned release date for Burial Rites has not yet been announced, but Screen Rant will keep you updated.
Source: Variety
