Ever since debuting in 2006 with very strong performances in “Starter for 10” and “The Prestige,” it only seemed a matter of time before Rebecca Hall made her way on to the A-list, and 2010 saw the actress deliver on that promise, with storming turns in “Red Riding: 1974,” “Please Give” and the surprise hit “The Town.”
She’ll next be seen alongside Will Ferrell in the indie drama “Everything Must Go” (where both she and Ferrell are significantly better than the film, as our review from last year asserted), and will film the IRA drama “Shadow Dancer,” with Guy Pearce once she’s done teaming with her father, legendary theater director Sir Peter Hall, on a just-starting production of “Twelfth Night” at the National Theatre in London. She’s also potentially got the prospect the Stephen Frears-helmed gambling drama “Lay The Favorite” waiting in the wings as well.
But perhaps most excitingly of all, 2011 will see Hall take on her first leading role, in the period chiller “The Awakening,” and HeyUGuys have uncovered the first image and official synopsis for the project. TV director Nick Murphy (“Occupation“) takes the helm for the BBC Films/Canal Plus production, co-writing the script with genre veteran Stephen Volk (“Ghostwatch“), with Hall leading a cast that also includes Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Joseph Mawle. There’s no word on a release date yet, but it’s likely to hit UK theaters sometime in the fall. Check out the full synopsis after the jump.
A ghost-debunker comes to a boy’s school to disprove the existence of ghosts, only to find her own beliefs challenged. A classic ghost-story in the tradition of MR James.
THE AWAKENING is set in 1921, in a post-war world of loss where the bereaved seek solace in spiritualism. Haunted by the death of her fiancé, Florence spends her time debunking supernatural claims, using methodical and rational explanations to disprove the notion that the dead can still haunt us. So she feels compelled to accept a request to go to Rookwood, a boarding school in the countryside where a boy has recently been found dead and rumours about a ghostly boy haunting the school are causing panic amongst pupils and parents alike.
Florence sets to work immediately, laying traps, gathering scientific evidence, uncovering secrets and seemingly unravelling the mystery. However, as Florence is about to leave, she has a chilling spectral encounter which defies all of her rational beliefs and sets her on a journey toward a heartbreaking climax…
