Image: AFP/Valerie Macon
Award-winning Australian novel “Burial Rites” is moving from page to screen at the hand of awards season favorite Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me by Your Name”) with Jennifer Lawrence as its lead.
A somewhat sympathetic account of the life and death of Iceland’s last woman executed by capital punishment, the cinematic adaptation of “Burial Rites” has attracted star names Jennifer Lawrence and Luca Guadagnino.
Achieving superstardom with leading roles in the “X-Men” and “Hunger Games” action movie franchises, Lawrence won a Best Actress Oscar for romantic comedy-drama “Silver Linings Playbook” and Golden Globes for not only that but also “American Hustle” and “Joy”.
She’ll now become Icelandic farmhand Agnes Magnúsdóttir for Luca Guadagnino’s “Burial Rites”, according to Variety.
It’s based on the true 1820s story of Iceland’s last woman executed via capital punishment. Condemned to death after being found guilty of two murders, she was exiled to a remote farm while she awaits her punishment, reflecting on recent events.
Australian author Hannah Kent made her literary debut with the 2013 novel, and an ensuing rush of accolades included nominations for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and wins at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the Australian Book Industry Awards.
As for Guadagnino, his latest film, youth romance “Call Me by Your Name”, is in the running in three categories at the 2018 Golden Globes.
It’s one of the American Film Institute’s Movies of the Year, and has been put forward in six categories at the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards.
His film won Best Feature at the 2017 Gotham Awards, an event whose previous two Best Feature winners, “Moonlight” and “Spotlight”, both went on to win overall Best Picture at the Oscars.
In addition to “Burial Rites”, the Italian director has already committed to horror fantasy “Suspiria”, featuring Chloë Grace Moretz, Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton, as well as crime drama “Rio” with Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Lawrence recently appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s 2017 movie “Mother!”, has the title role in 2018’s “Red Sparrow”, and continues as part of an ensemble cast of superheroes in “X-Men: Dark Phoenix”.
After her turn as entrepreneur Joy Mangano in 2015’s “Joy”, she has also agreed to take the lead in another business-oriented biographical drama, “Bad Blood”. JB
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