It often takes star power to get a challenging project made, and Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski has gotten just that for his new drama, “The Island.” THR reports that Academy Award-winner Joaquin Phoenix and two-time Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara are joining the film.
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A period film and dramatic thriller that Pawlikowski will also write is loosely based on real events and will focus on an attractive American couple in the 1930s who escape to their own private paradise on a deserted island and live off the land. But after a millionaire passing by on his yacht turns the couple into a tabloid newspaper sensation, a self-styled countess appears with two lovers and plans to build a luxury hotel on the island.
As battle lines are quickly drawn, psychological warfare ensues between the countess and the American couple as sexual infidelity, betrayal, and, eventually, murder occurs among the island interlopers.
Well, a) doesn’t that sound intriguing, and b) doesn’t it also make lots of room for talented co-stars to play the millionaire, the countess, and two lovers? Phoenix and Mara are the two leads, so they’ll presumably be the American couple who kick it all off, but this could potentially have a considerable superstar cast if other names get involved.
Pawlikowski is already a renowned international filmmaker who has received tons of awards love for “Ida” in 2013 and “Cold War” in 2018. “Ida” was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography at the 87th Academy Awards. At the 91st Academy Awards, “Cold War” earned a Best Foreign Language Film nomination, a Best Director nod, and a Best Cinematography nomination.
“Pawel Pawlikowski is one of the world’s greatest filmmakers working today. Pawel bringing this story of jealousy, betrayal, and murder in a Garden of Eden is exactly what we all need to drive audiences back to the cinema,” FilmNation CEO Glen Basner said in a statement.
Phoenix and Mara last starred opposite each other in the 2018 historical drama “Mary Magdalene.”
