There are now officially two Mary Shelley biopics in the works, both focusing on the young author’s work of writing Frankenstein and her romance with the older poet Percy Shelley (who would later become her husband).
The first, as we reported earlier, is Wadjda director Haifaa al-Mansour’s A Storm in the Stars. Elle Fanning is attached to play the lead role.
The second project will take a completely different tack. Mary Shelley’s Monster, according to producer Rose Ganguzza, is “the story of the most extraordinary 19th-century teenage heroine told in a visceral, sexy, contemporary way.”
To be written by first-time screenwriter Deborah Baxtrom, the film will star Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner opposite Jeremy Irvine as Percy Shelley. Taissa Farmiga will co-star as Shelley’s stepsister Claire Clairmon. Baxtrom created a similarly themed webseries called “Living with Frankenstein.”
Fortunately, Mary Shelley’s Monster will also be helmed by a BAFTA-nominated female director, Coky Giedroy, who has worked extensively in TV.
To distinguish her project from al-Mansour biopic, Ganguzza remarked, “Our film is not a period drama. It is a story of youth that transcends time, a gothic romance, a love triangle that involves a dark passenger, and we are tremendously excited to have such an exciting cast onboard this wonderful project.”
[via Deadline]
