It’s perfectly clear that we don’t get enough Sarah Polley in our lives. The “Sweet Hereafter” and “Dawn Of The Dead” star isn’t often seen in front of the camera these days —she hasn’t made a movie since 2010— but that’s because she’s been busy with a burgeoning career as a filmmaker. After her powerful directorial debut “Away From Her” won rave reviews (and Julie Christie an Oscar nomination), Polley followed up with the bruising relationship drama “Take This Waltz” and then the wonderful autobiographical documentary “Stories We Tell.”
She hasn’t directed a movie since, though she’s been busy with screenwriting jobs, including John Green adaptation “Looking For Alaska” and a new version of “Little Women.” But we’re about to get a lot more of her work, as Netflix has announced a partnership with CBC to present Polley’s long-developing six-hour miniseries adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “Alias Grace.”
Published in 1996 and winner of the Giller Prize, the book tells the story of a doctor researching the murder of Thomas Kinnear and housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Canada in 1843 by their servants James McDermott and Grace Marks (after whom the book is named). Polley first announced she was developing an adaptation back in 2012 as a movie, but it more recently was revealed to be a miniseries for CBC.
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Now it is confirmed that the production is set to shoot in Ontario in August, with CBC taking Canadian rights and Netflix taking the rest of the world. Polley will write and produce, but another esteemed Canadian filmmaker, “American Psycho” director Mary Harron. will be handling the directing duties. “I can’t wait for us to bring the many versions of Grace’s gripping story and the questions they raise to television audiences,” Polley says. Harron remarks that “‘Sarah Polley has done a brilliant adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s classic novel, which combines the richness of period drama with the tension and mystery of a modern day ‘Serial.’”
It’s interesting to see Netflix move towards more miniseries like this and Scott Frank’s upcoming “Godless,” which also began as a movie project.