Is it too early to start the Oscar prognostications for this one? Because I think the combination of Jennifer Lawrence and Call Me By Your Name's Luca Guadagnino is destined to be a factor. The two are set to team up on Burial Rites, a film that Lawrence has been attached to for a few years, back when Gary Ross was attached.
Lawrence and Ross had set up several projects to collaborate on after he split from The Hunger Games franchise. One was Burial Rites, another was an adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Both never got going and it seems Lawrence and Ross have gone their separate ways, although he remains on board as a producer. Guadagnino steps in, riding high on the reviews for Call Me By Your Name, to direct the true-crime drama about Agnes Magnusdottir, who in 1830 became the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland. Agnes had been convicted of killing two men and setting fire to their home. The film will draw largely from Hannah Kent's 2013 novel, which carries this synopsis:
Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes’s death looms, the farmer’s wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they’ve heard.
Next up for Guadagnino is his long-awaited Suspiria remake, while Lawrence has X-Men: Dark Phoenix and espionage flick Red Sparrow. After all of that is cleared off their schedules we should see Lawrence and Guadagnino come together on this one. Until then I highly recommend you check out the 1995 film Agnes which chronicles Magnusdottir's story.
