Elisabeth Moss has signed on to play famed horror author Shirley Jackson in Josephine Decker‘s upcoming adaptation of Susan Scarf Merrell‘s novel, Shirley. The novel tells a fictional story built around the real life author who wrote such classics as The Lottery and The Haunting Of Hill House.
The film will revolve around a young couple that moves in with Jackson and her husband Stanley, hoping to start a new life. Instead, they find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Jackson’s next major novel. Sarah Gubbins (I Love Dick) has penned the adaptation of Merrell’s novel.
Opposite Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg has been cast to play the husband, Stanley. Both actors are riding an impressive wave of success right now, with Moss currently starring in season two of The Handmaid’s Tale, which won her an Emmy, while Stuhlbarg appeared in three Best Picture Oscar films this year – The Shape Of Water, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post.
For Decker, who has made a few impressive low-budget independent films, this would mark her biggest project yet. She had this to say about the film:
“No two people write more wildly rich female characters than Shirley Jackson and Sarah Gubbins. It’s an honour to bring their female sorcery to life with these incredible partners. I can’t wait to witness Elisabeth Moss‘ visceral inhabitation of Shirley’s beautiful tortured spirit and Michael Stuhlbarg‘s unflinchingly charismatic-while-cruel Stanley”.
The film is scheduled to begin shooting this summer.
#Peace.Love.Shirley
