Gugu Mbatha-Raw is set to star in Isabel Coixet’s next feature. The “Morning Show” actress will star in “Nobody’s Heart,” a romance based on the life of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. The project, set to kick off production in January, is being introduced at the American Film Market, which launched yesterday and runs through November 5.
“Nobody’s Heart” follows Lily (Mbatha-Raw), who is “forced to confront the sudden and devastating death of her husband. She inherits his cork factory and begins to form an unexpected, highly charged relationship with his enigmatic co-worker, igniting repressed imagination and passion, and discovering unknown truths about both herself and her late husband,” per Deadline.
“This is a fascinating, twisted, and sexually charged love story between two characters sharing a unique passion with the background of Portugal in the 1930s,” said Coixet. “After reading William Boyd’s script, I completely fell in love with the story and I know there’s a hunger out there for these stories.”
“Loki,” “Misbehaviour,” and “Come Away” are among Mbatha-Raw’s recent credits. She has a slew of projects in the pipeline including HBO Max series “The Girl Before” and Apple TV+ series “Surface.” The former tells the story of a woman who falls in love with a house that’s under the spell of the architect who originally designed it, and the latter is a psychological thriller.
Coixet’s features include “Elisa & Marcela,” “The Bookshop,” and “Learning to Drive.”
While accepting the National Cinematography Prize at the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival Coixet shared advice for other women filmmakers. “People will insinuate, over and over again, that everything you’ve achieved is because you’re a woman and, perversely, the obstacles put in your path will be there for the same reason,” she said. “The good news though, believe me, is that, finally, in recent years I feel like things are changing, that there is real interest in our perspective, in our filmmaking, and our way of being in the world. It has been a hard road,” she emphasized. “Always remember the women who led the way. Don’t ever imagine you’re the last Coca-Cola in the desert, the last hard-boiled egg at the picnic. If you want to pray to someone, pray to Agnès Varda. Help each other as much as you can. That’s our biggest responsibility right now.”
