Jessica Chastain’s “Painkiller Jane” adaptation has found a scribe. Lotus Entertainment has hired Christine Boylan to pen the script, Deadline reports. Boylan’s writing credits include “Once Upon a Time,” “Castle,” and “Constantine.”
Based on the comic series of the same name, “Painkiller Jane” will see two-time Oscar nominee Chastain play Jane Vasko, “a New York City street cop who gets recruited by the FBI to infiltrate a major NYC drug and human trafficking ring,” the source summarizes. “In a near-death experience, Jane develops exceptional regenerative abilities that give her a unique indestructible advantage. With nothing to live for and no way to die, Painkiller Jane becomes an unstoppable force of nature seeking revenge to those who destroyed her life as she leaves a path of death and destruction in her wake.”
Chastain and Kelly Carmichael (“My Week with Marilyn”), the president of production and development at Chastain’s Freckle Films, are among the project’s executive producers.
No word on who will direct “Painkiller Jane” just yet, but Chastain has been a vocal supporter of women directors.
“I’m looking to work with a female filmmaker every year,” the “Miss Sloane” actress has said. “That’s my goal. They’re not given the same opportunities so if I have any influence in choosing a film or a script or finding a director I’m absolutely going to make a difference. That doesn’t mean I’m excluding men — it means I need some balance in my life.”
Chastain has already worked with women directors such as Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero Dark Thirty”), Niki Caro (“The Zookeeper’s Wife”), and Susanna White (“Woman Walks Ahead”). When serving as a juror at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, she stated, “I think if we include more female storytellers, I hope we have more women that I see in my own day-to-day life. They just don’t react to the men around them. They have their own point-of-view.”
Upcoming comic adaptations with women in directors’ chairs include Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” sequel, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Silver & Black,” and “Captain Marvel,” co-directed by Anna Boden.
