Sandra Bullock has another woman-directed Netflix pic on the way. The Oscar winner will follow up her role in Susanne Bier’s smash hit “Bird Box,” which she also exec produced, with Nora Fingscheidt’s feature adaptation of “Unforgiven” for the streamer. Based on the 2009 ITV miniseries, the project centers on Ruth (Bullock), a woman “released from prison after serving a 15-year sentence for a violent crime and looking to reunite with the estranged younger sister she was forced to leave behind,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Suranne Jones (“Gentleman Jack”, “Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned”) played Ruth in the original “Unforgiven,” which was written by “Gentleman Jack” and “Happy Valley” creator Sally Wainwright.
Fingscheidt made her directorial debut with “System Crasher,” Germany’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2020 Oscars and the winner of the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at this year’s Berlinale. The drama tells the story of a nine-year-old girl in the child welfare system.
Bullock is pulling double duty on the “Unforgiven” adaptation — in addition to starring, she’s producing.
A two-time Oscar nominee, Bullock took home the prize for “The Blind Side” and received a nod for “Gravity.” “Ocean’s Eight,” “The Heat,” and “Speed” are among her other high-profile credits. Last year she revealed that she almost quit acting due to sexism. “It was hard for me, because I walked with blinders on through life and got to where I [felt] like I was less than because I was a woman,” the “Miss Congeniality” star explained. “And that was a hard pill to swallow. I had a lot of sadness from that. I was like, ‘Wow, maybe I need to step out of here. Maybe I need to do something else for a living.’ And that was in the middle of when I was getting work — I didn’t want to be a part of that world where there was that experience.”