Though he’s currently preoccupied giving Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine an appropriate swan song as the actor prepares to hang up his adamantium claws, James Mangold is already eyeing a very different kind of project. Deadline reports that the versatile helmer will tackle an adaptation of Chris Greenhalgh’s Seducing Ingrid Bergman, possibly to be titled Blood and Champagne, about the heated love affair between actress Bergman and war photographer Robert Capa.
Set in 1945 in post-WWII Paris, the pic will focus on a pivotal time in the Casablanca actress’ life; she would subsequently become a tabloid sensation after launching into an affair with director Roberto Rossellini.
Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco) wrote the script for the historical romance and will also produce.
Blood and Champagne takes the place of drama The Deep Blue Good-By on Mangold’s priority list. That project, starring Christian Bale, was set to kick off production this summer until Bale suffered an injury that forced the movie to be postponed indefinitely. It remains to be seen whether Mangold will find time to direct it after the third Wolverine and now Blood and Champagne.
Bergman, a Swedish actress who became a Hollywood star with acclaimed roles in The Bells of St. Mary’s, Notorious, Casablanca and Spellbound, has long captivated audiences. As a performer, she won the adulation of the Academy, earning three Academy Awards and seven total nominations. And as a tabloid fixture, she ruled the headlines in her later years once the affair with Rossellini became public knowledge.
Even now, Bergman holds our attention – this past March, a photograph of the actress served as the main poster for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where a documentary about her, titled Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words, also screened. It’s about time that Hollywood honored the actress by beginning to work on projects like Blood and Champagne about her lengthy and fascinating life.
