Two-time Oscar winnerFrances McDormandis set to produce and star in a feature adaptation ofMiriam Toews’ bestselling novelWomen Talkingthat will be written and directed bySarah Polley.
Deadline broke the news, reporting that McDormand was the driving forced behind this project, as she acquired the rights to the book under her Hear/Say Productions banner before bringing the prestige package toBrad Pitt’s company Plan B.Women Talkingis now set up at MGM’s Orion Pictures, and will be released theatrically in the U.S. by United Artists Releasing.
Polley will adapt Toews' acclaimed 2018 book, which follows a group of women in an isolated religious colony as they struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony’s men.
That’s a fascinating premise if you ask me, and the powerful pairing of Polley and McDormand makesWomen Talkinga must-see in my eyes. Religion can be a complicated thing, especially when it runs up against the law, and watching McDormand navigate that dichotomy could very well make for a special film, particularly in the hands of a sensitive filmmaker such as Polley.
Polley earned an Oscar nomination for adaptingAway from Her, which was her very first film as a director. She went on to direct theMichelle Williamsmarital dramaTake This Waltz, which I thought was quite good, and more importantly, she grappled with some difficult subject matter in her autobiographical 2012 documentaryStories We Tell, which makes me thing she’s the right person to bringWomen Talkingto the big screen.
As for McDormand, she’s back in the Oscar race this year thanks to her wonderful turn inChloe Zhao’sNomadland, having previously won Best Actress twice forFargoandThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. McDormand could also find herself back in the hunt next year, as she’s a member ofWes Anderson’s ensemble forThe French Dispatch, and also stars oppositeDenzel WashingtoninJoel Coen’sThe Tragedy of Macbeth. To watch the new trailer forNomadland,click here, and to watch an old trailer forThe French Dispatch,click here.
