Vanessa Kirby has joined the cast of the upcoming filmThe Son. The feature is the next project for director Florian Zeller after the Oscar winningThe Father. That particular movie earned Anthony Hopkins an Academy Award. ForThe Son, Vanessa Kirby will work with Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern. Both titles were adaptations from Zeller and Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liasons) of Zeller’s stage play. In addition to Best Actor, the film also won the Oscar for best Adapted Screenplay.
A synopsis for the film reads, “The Sonfocuses on Peter (Jackman) as his busy life with new partner Emma (Vanessa Kirby) and their baby is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas. The young man is troubled, distant and angry, playing truant from school for months. Peter strives to be a better father, searching to help his son with those intimate and instinctive moments of family happiness. But the weight of Nicholas' condition sets the family on a dangerous course.”
Producing duties will be performed by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, whose 2010 flicThe King’s Speechwon Best Picture at the Academy Awards, along with Joanna Laurie of See-Saw Films and Christophe Spadone, who worked with Zeller onThe Father. Entertainment company Film4 will help with the finances. Production is expected to start in a couple weeks.
Zeller offered his praises of Kirby while speaking about her. He explained, “Vanessa Kirby is for me a very great actress: intense, inventive and powerful. I am especially happy to take her on this cinematic adventure.”
Laurie brought similar commendation, as well as an insight into the project’s theme while discussing the actor. Laurie said that the movie, “holds a mirror up to our families and our emotions and we’re very excited to add Vanessa to the already exceedingly talented cast ofHugh JackmanandLaura Dernin bringing this story to life.”
Vanessa Kirby has already received acclaim for previous roles. She was nominated for an Academy Award forPieces of a Woman. Additionally, Kirby was given the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for the film she got an Oscar nod for. A similar praised performance came when she played Princess Margaret in Netflix seriesThe Crown. In that role, she won a BAFTA for best supporting actress. For those outside the United Kingdom, a BAFTA is like the British version of the Oscars. She has also been a part of severalblockbuster projects. She was a supporting player inMission Impossible Fallout, arguably the best entry in the franchise. Additionally, she co starred inThe Fast and the FuriousspinoffHobbs and Shaw. If all that was not enough, she won an Ian Charleston Award for bothThree SistersandUncle Vanya. Kirby has another upcoming role in the Thomas Bidegain written and directed storySuddenly. In that project, she will act alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.
Outside the domestic box office,The Sonis being distributed by Cross City Films and Embankment. In the United States, rights are held by Cross City Films and CAA Media Finance.
