Marjane Satrapi is set to bring another graphic novel to the big screen. The “Persepolis” filmmaker will direct Working Title’s “Radioactive,” based on Lauren Redniss’ graphic nonfiction book “Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout,” Deadline reports.
“Radioactive” will be a “live-action, image-driven film,” the source writes. It will follow “Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie and her extraordinary scientific discoveries — through the prism of her marriage to husband Pierre — and the seismic and transformative effects their discovery of radium had on the 20th century.”
Redniss’ book — the first nonfiction graphic narrative to be a National Book Award finalist — will be adapted by Jack Thorne (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”). Studiocanal is financing the project, with Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Paul Webster producing. “Radioactive” will begin shooting in the fall and casting is in progress.
Marie Curie’s “life, love, passion, science, and death is a singular story,” Satrapi stressed. “Beyond the fact of being a two-time Nobel Prize winner, she herself is an epic character. This film is not just a biopic about this exceptional woman. It tells the story of radioactivity from its discovery until today, the humanist approach of the Curie couple with their discovery, the cynicism of some about its use, and the effect it has had on our world until today.”
Marie Skłodowska was born in Poland in 1867. She moved to France in 1891 and married Pierre Curie in 1895. “[The Curies] worked together to develop the theory of radioactivity and techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes and discovered the elements polonium and radium,” Deadline summarizes. “The pair were at the dawn of a new scientific and technological era that ushered in the nuclear age.”
“Radioactive” is just the latest project about women in STEM careers to be announced. “Hidden Figures,” about the brilliant black women involved in the space race, continues to be a financial success at the box office and an inspiration for audiences. Sundance Channel is developing “Intuition,” a limited series from Anna Ziegler focused on a female scientist. And Niki Caro will direct “Exposure,” about trailblazing scientist Rosalind Franklin, whose work played an integral role in our understanding of DNA.
“Hidden Figures” has grossed over $132 million at the domestic box office. Hollywood has trouble learning the lesson that female-led projects do well with audiences, but hopefully the film’s success means we’ll be seeing more stories about women, and especially women of color and those in STEM fields. “Hidden Figures’” warm — and lucrative — reception may have been a factor in the Sundance Channel’s decision to develop “Intuition,” a limited series from Anna Ziegler focused on a female scientist. According to Variety, the project is in “early development.”
Satrapi co-directed “Persepolis,” based on her graphic memoirs “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” and “Persepolis: The Story of a Return.” The books and film trace Satrapi’s experiences growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution, the time she spent in Europe as a young adult, and her eventual self-imposed exile from her homeland.
Speaking to Women and Hollywood about her role as director, Satrapi said, “I lived under a dictatorship and I knew that your rights were not given to you — you had to take them and you have to fight for them. If there is something I want, I will not cry about it. If I have to fight for it in order to have it, I’ll fight. Fighting is not so bad.”
“Persepolis” was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award in 2008. The film won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes and was named Best Debut Feature at the César Awards. Satrapi has also helmed “The Voices,” “The Gang of Jotas,” and “Chicken with Plums.” The latter is based on her graphic narrative of the same name.
