Now here is an interesting piece of indie film news. Haifaa Al-Mansour, the first female director to come out of Saudi Arabia, has plans to direct Elle Fanning as the writer Mary Shelley in A Storm in the Stars. Just take a moment and let that sink in.
A Storm in the Stars will tell the story of the then-17 year old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s relationship with the poet Percy Shelley, leading to her becoming his second wife. The script is said to mainly concern the difficulties of Mary’s life, her first love, and grappling with a culture out of step with her concerns. Her parents were Mary Wollstonecraft, an early feminist who penned A Vindication of the Rights of Women, and philosopher William Godwin. Mary Shelley was raised by her father to liberal political views, and eventually met and began an affair with the poet Percy Shelley while he was still married to his first wife. It’s a plum role for any young actress, given the cultural significance of Mary Shelley’s work and her fraught and complicated personal life.
A Storm in the Stars is still in the early days of development at the moment, with no word yet on who will play Percy Shelley, not to mention his friends Lord Byron and John Keats, who will undoubtedly figure into the narrative (we hope). Elle Fanning’s casting means that the film is moving ahead with a popular young actress in the lead, though, so hopefully Al-Mansour will be able to gather a strong cast around her. Fanning is certainly an up and comer, even if she has not quite had an opportunity to prove herself in this kind of dramatic role.
We will keep an eye on casting and production news for A Storm in the Stars, as it becomes available. The film is set to begin shooting in 2015.
