Deadline is reporting that Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones and Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey will be joining Jason Isaacs to star in a new comedy titled Maria from writer and director Simon Amstell.
Jones will be playing the title character of Maria. Maria is described as “a young woman with a history of running from reality.” The film will follow Maria as she and her boyfriend attend her father’s wedding, and she finds herself being attracted to her new stepbrother. Isaacs will be playing Maria’s father with Bailey playing her boyfriend.
Jones was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Theory of Everything. Jones’ other credits include Like Crazy, On the Basis of Sex, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Bailey is best known for playing Lord Anthony Bridgerton on the hit Netflix series Bridgerton. He also appeared in other popular series like Broadchurch, Crashing, and W1A. Isaacs is best known for his role in the Harry Potter series and in films like The Patriot, The Death of Stalin, and Peter Pan. The actor has also had multiple fan-favorite roles in shows like The OA, Star Wars Rebels, Avatar: The Last Airbender and is currently starring in the CBS drama Good Sam.
The film has been written and will be directed by Amstell. Amstell is a stand-up comedian turned film-maker from the United Kingdom. He previously wrote and starred in the BBC2 series Grandma’s House before turning his attention to film. His directorial debut came in 2017 with the comedy Carnage, featuring Martin Freeman, which he also wrote. Amstell then went on to write and direct the 2018 comedy-drama Benjamin. Amstell gave a statement about this new film, and the casting of Jones as the lead, saying:
“I’m incredibly excited to begin shooting Maria this year with Felicity Jones. Our hope is that making a film about our culture’s fear of ageing and death will be an absolute sensation.”
Maria is scheduled to start shooting in both the UK and the US later this Fall. Stay tuned to Collider for any future updates on this project and read the full synopsis for the film below:
Struggling to accept her age, her boyfriend’s love and her father’s indifference, Maria spots an opportunity to feel young, free and desirable at her father’s wedding, where she meets Raffy, her new stepbrother. Their obvious, if inconvenient, sexual chemistry is made worse by the news that her father has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
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