STXfilms, Black Bear Pictures, and Anonymous Content have announced that Ben Mendelsohn (Babyteeth, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) has joined Daisy Ridley (Star Wars trilogy) in Neil Burger’s (Limitless, The Illusionist) highly anticipated psychological thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter. The forthcoming adaptation of Karen Dionne’s best-selling novel of the same name was written by Elle Smith & Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, Midnight Sky).
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The Marsh King’s Daughter centers on Ridley’s Helena, a woman living a seemingly ordinary life, but hiding a dark secret: her father is the infamous “Marsh King,” the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to escape her past, Helena is forced to face her demons when her father unexpectedly escapes from prison.
Mendelsohn will star as Jacob Holbrook, the infamous “Marsh King,” who years ago kept his young daughter, Helena, and her mother captive.
Click here to purchase Dionne’s novel of the same name!
Mendelsohn is a Golden Globe-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor best known for his roles in Animal Kingdom, The Dark Knight Rises, The Place Beyond the Pines, Darkest Hour, Captain Marvel, The King, HBO’s The Outsider, and Netflix’s Bloodline. He will next be seen in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion for Disney+, as well as Joe Wright’s Cyrano in which he co-stars alongside Haley Bennett and in Damián Szifron’s Misanthrope opposite Shailene Woodley.
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The film is produced by Black Bear Pictures’ Teddy Schwarzman (The Imitation Game, I Care a Lot), Anonymous Content’s Keith Redmon (The Revenant, Midnight Sky), and Mark L. Smith. Executive Producers are Black Bear’s Michael Heimler, Syndicate Entertainment’s Cliff Roberts, and Charles Miller. Black Bear will fully finance the project, with principal photography due to commence in Canada this June.