Rebecca Ferguson is in talks to star opposite Hugh Bonneville in John Hay’s untitled biopic about Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal.
The actress of the Mission: Impossible franchise and the upcoming all-star musical The Greatest Showman is eyed to play the Oscar-winning actress Neal (Hud, The Subject Was Roses) in the bittersweet and comedic story of her marriage to best-selling children’s author Dahl (played by Bonneville).
Set in New York, England and Los Angeles at the start of the 1960s, the film will chronicle Dahl’s struggles to write some of his most famous works (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG) and Neal’s return to Hollywood after she suffered three cerebral aneurysms in 1965. The film is set to shoot in and around London beginning in late January.
The screenplay is based on Stephen Michael Shearer’s novel An Unquiet Life.
Goldcrest Films is financing, co-producing and overseeing global sales and distribution. The movie is produced by Elliot Jenkins for Atticus Pictures and by Pascal Degove for Goldcrest.
