Carla Gugino lands next lead movie role as real-life screen legend
Carla Gugino has signed on to play Gone with the Wind icon Vivien Leigh in a new biopic.
Best recognised for her roles in Gerald's Game, The Fall of the House of Usher and Spy Kids, Gugino is teaming up with director Nick Sandow for this one, who most fans will remember for portraying Joe Caputo in Orange is the New Black.
Variety reports that the project is titled The Florist and was written by Jayce Bartok, based on a box of love letters.
Related: Gerald's Game features a sneaky Easter Egg that ties it to the wider Stephen King universe
The Florist, which will begin shooting in Philadelphia this summer, explores Leigh's struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1960s, while preparing to headline the Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov.
Leigh encounters a World War II veteran and florist named Joseph Penn, and "amidst the backdrop of madness, Leigh and Penn become each other's sources of truth, beauty and love".
Gugino said in a statement: "I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew The Florist was a journey I had to pursue."
Related: First look at Carla Gugino in new Frankenstein movie with Riverdale star
Also commenting on the newly announced biopic was Sandow, who shared: "What drew me to the project was the script and how it brings together, for a fleeting moment, two human beings who seemingly couldn't be more different.
"I was excited by taking these two discordant existences and making them touch, and seeing what that says about things like love, artistry, mental illness, and celebrity."
Born in British India in 1913, Leigh was married to Laurence Olivier for 20 years and passed away aged just 53.
You Might Also Like
