In one of the year's fiercest bidding wars, Fox Searchlight has acquired an adaptation of bestselling novel, The Aftermath, a post-WWII drama from author Rhidian Brooks. Why was this such a hot project besides the international acclaim the novel has already merited? How about Keira Knightley and Alexander Skarsgard as the leading couple?
The duo are in talks for the film which will be directed by James Kent, who was last behind the camera for the excellent Testament of Youth. Penned by Race screenwriters Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel penned the story which Deadline describes as "set in postwar Germany in 1946. Rachael Morgan arrives in the ruins of Hamburg in the bitter winter, to be reunited with her husband Lewis, a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an extraordinary decision: They will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal."
Ridley Scott's Scott Free will produce, and this has all the makings of a major prestige picture. Knightley recently took the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Disney's The Nutcracker, while Skarsgard helped carry The Legend of Tarzan to over $340M worldwide.
