Director Xavier Dolan has pulled no punches during the casting process for The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan, enlisting a who’s who of A-listers and, perhaps even more exciting, an ensemble of talented leading ladies.
Marking his English-language debut, Dolan has welcomed aboard Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington, Nicholas Hoult, Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman, Michael Gambon, Thandie Newton and Scream Queens‘ star Bella Thorne, who is attached to play sister to Jessica Chastain’s astute columnist.
Word comes by way of Collider, who spoke with Throne during SXSW film festival, eventually confirming that the 18-year-old will play the younger sister to Chastain’s reporter. Said Throne: “The director is Xavier Dolan who is one of the most talented directors and I get to play Jessica Chastain’s sister so I was like “Please hire me! Please!”
Anchoring The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan as the title Hollywood star is Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), an actor who finds his position under threat amid allegations of his purported correspondence with an 11-year-old actor. Situated largely in the early 2000s, expect Dolan’s feature to play fast and loose with non-linearity, hopping between sequences from nearly two decades ago and the present day, where the accuser will be recalling the alleged incident via interviews. It’s a role that we can’t wait to see Harington sink his teeth into early next year.
Having added the final touches to It’s Only The End Of The World, Xavier Dolan is poised to jump-start production on The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan in the coming weeks.
