Vanessa Kirby Joins Florian Zeller’s Drama Pic The Son

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Vanessa Kirby Joins Florian Zeller’s Drama Pic The Son

Coming off from her acclaimed leading performance in Netflix’s Pieces of Woman movie, it looks like Vanessa Kirby has found her next drama feature in the form of Florian Zeller’s film adaptation of his award-winning stage play The Son.

Variety brings word that the Oscar-nominated actress has officially signed on to join Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern in the French filmmaker’s follow-up movie to his critically-acclaimed 2020 film The Father. Kirby is set to portray the role of Emma, the new partner of Jackman’s character Peter. Production is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

“Vanessa Kirby is for me a very great actress: intense, inventive, and powerful. I am especially happy to take her on this cinematic adventure,” Zeller said in a statement.

Kirby is best known for her role as Prince Margaret in the first two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown, where she earned her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. She will be seen next reprising her role as Alanna Mitsopolis/ White Widow in the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8.

The Son centers around Peter (Jackman), whose busy life with new partner Emma 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.

The film will be directed by Florian Zeller from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oscar winner Christopher Hampton. The original play first opened in London in 2019 and, like his previous stage plays, earned rave reviews. The adaptation will be produced by See-Saw’s Iain Canning and Emile Sherman along with Christophe Spadone, who is reuniting with Zeller after last year’s The Father. Producers are Joanna Laurie and Christophe Spadone.

Zeller’s feature directorial debut The Father was based on his award-winning 2012 play Le Père and starred Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins. The film has previously won two Oscars out of six nominations including Best Actor for Hopkins and Best Adapted Screenplay for Zeller and Hampton.