Films, News, Women Writers

Rachel Weisz Set to Star in Film Adaptation of “Secret Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry”

Dr. James Miranda Barry: Wiki Commons

Rachel Weisz is set to star in an adaptation of “The Secret Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry: Victorian England’s Most Eminent Surgeon” by Rachel Holmes, Deadline reports.

The rights have been optioned by Maven Pictures. Co-founders Trudie Styler (“American Honey) and Celine Rattray (“The Kids Are All Right,” “American Honey) will produce along with Weisz.

“Born Margaret Bulkley,” Deadline writes, Barry “lived her entire life as a man so she could study and practice medicine. She became a prominent surgeon who spent her groundbreaking career championing the rights of the lower classes and pushing for medical reforms and better sanitary conditions. After becoming an army surgeon and beginning work as a medical assistant in Cape Town, Barry was promoted to the role of personal physician to Governor Lord Charles Somerset. This appointment led to Somerset supporting Barry’s often controversial work, and to a close and eventually scandalous relationship with Somerset, which was widely viewed to be homosexual in nature. While in Cape Town, Barry performed one of the first known successful caesarian sections, saving the lives of both mother and child. Barry’s true gender was not discovered until her death in 1865.”

Weisz previously starred in “The Whisleblower” for Maven, which has a reputation for female-centric films. Their other projects include “The Kids are All Right,” “Still Alice,” and “American Honey.” Coming up they have “Novitiate,” directed by Maggie Betts and starring Margaret Qualley and Melissa Leo, which will premiere in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

This year, Weisz starred in “Denial,” which chronicled the true story of a woman going up against a Holocaust denier. Weisz won an Oscar in 2005 for her supporting role in political thriller “The Constant Gardener.”


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