Even after her incredible lead performance in last year’s Short Term 12, Brie Larson is still flying just under the radar. The actress’s star is sure to rise in coming months, though, as she appears opposite Mark Wahlberg in possible Oscar contender The Gambler then takes the lead role in musical comedy Basmati Blues. However, Larson’s biggest chance to break out would seem to be in the upcoming Room, adapted from the controversial bestseller by Emma Donoghue.
Now, it has been announced that Larson will be joined in the drama by William H. Macy, Joan Allen and child star Jacob Tremblay (The Smurfs 2), all of whom are taking on key roles. Donoghue’s 2010 novel centered on a five-year old boy (Tremblay) who lives inside a small “Room” with his Ma (Larson). To the boy, Room is home, but Ma knows the truth – that, seven years ago, she was kidnapped, and Room is not a home, it’s a prison.
Lenny Abrahamson (Frank) is directing from a script that Donoghue wrote, adapting her own work in hopes of Gillian Flynn-esque results. In addition to Macy, Allen and Tremblay, Room has added Sean Bridgers (Rectify), Tom McCamus (The Samaritan) and Megan Park (What If) to its cast ahead of beginning production in Toronto.
Room was one of the most unexpectedly gripping reads of 2010, and it will be thrilling to see it brought to life by actors as talented as Larson and Macy. The jury’s still out on Tremblay, but landing the role was a major coup for the young actor, so one would imagine he had to display some pretty stellar acting chops during the casting process.
Here’s more on Donoghue’s book – A24 will be distributing the adaptation stateside, but no date has yet been announced:
To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It’s where he was born, it’s where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it’s the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack’s curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.
Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating–a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.
