Academy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore (Still Alice) and Killing Eve star Sandra Oh have signed on to star in the revenge thriller Stone Mattress. Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here) will direct from the script she co-wrote with Tom Townend, based on the acclaimed New Yorker short story by The Handmaid’s Tale scribe Margaret Atwood.
The story is set on a cruise ship in the Arctic, and is aiming to shoot in September on location in Greenland and Iceland.
“Moore will play Verna, a 60-year-old retired physiotherapist and twice a widow, who embarks on a luxurious cruise into the magnificent and silently thawing Arctic Northwest Passage, populated by a crowd of privileged influencers and wealthy retirees. On the ship, Verna meets the friendly and charming Grace (Oh), and the seemingly ordinary Bob (casting in process), an unaccompanied man in his mid-sixties who inherited a family business. Although he doesn’t have a fraction of Verna’s elegance and wit, Bob tries to seduce her. But he might not be the foolish yet harmless man he initially appears to be, and his presence troubles Verna. As wounds and humiliations from her past resurface, the smooth atmosphere of the cruise will be disturbed by a shocking act.”
Ramsay released a statement talking about the importance and timeliness of the project:
“I first read Margaret Atwood when I was a teenager, and her work has gripped me ever since. She is simply one of the most intelligent, prophetic and engaging writers around and Stone Mattress is another perfect illustration of that. I was immediately gripped by the way it framed the deeply buried trauma of a post-menopausal woman – an age group we hear from all too rarely – through the dynamic and multifaceted character of Verna.
From its tongue-in-cheek humor to its moments of icy vengeance and delicate portrayal of an emotional repression specific to the boomer generation, it is a story I’ve wanted to materialize on-screen since my first reading. With the current repeal in women’s rights across the world, particularly regarding the overturning of Roe v Wade in America, this story, with its themes of stolen motherhood and unaccounted sexual abuse, feels more important than ever. The opportunity to shoot in the Arctic, on the frontline of the most urgent threat to our world and on the verge of irredeemable transformation, will lend the story another layer of devastation. Just like the icecaps that melt to reveal ancient histories, Stone Mattress sees years of Verna’s pain and fury thaw before our eyes to expose the raw emotion underneath.”
This sounds like a strong cast and story that will resonate with a lot of people right now. We will keep you updates on the project as it develops.
via: Deadline