With the grim news hitting at the beginning of this week about the closure of the UK Film Council, it’s nice to hear a bit of good news about British film. We got a bit excited at the end of May with the news that underrated auteur Terence Davies was working on an adaptation of Terrence Rattigan’s classic post-war play “The Deep Blue Sea,” and now it seems he’s found about the perfect choice to fill the lead role.
The drama follows Hester Collyer, the wife of a High Court Judge, who’s caught in a self-destructive affair with an R.A.F. pilot, and now the ever-on-the-money Baz Bamigboye at the Daily Mail, who broke the original story, has revealed that Rachel Weisz is in ‘advanced talks’ to play the central role. Schedules apparently need to be worked out — the actress is set to play Jackie Kennedy for partner Darren Aronofsky in the near future — but it seems that the actress is all but a done deal.
Frankly, it’s a spectacularly good casting choice — Weisz couldn’t be better suited for the role, and we’re dying to see the pair team up. Apparently, Davies sees a kinship in the part with Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Vivien Leigh played both roles on film), and we can see why; we saw Weisz in “Streetcar” last year in London, and it was one of the most astounding performances we’ve ever seen on stage. There’s no word on a start date or financing yet, but we dearly hope that they can work something out.