David Lowery has a new film in the works with Tilda Swinton set to star.
“Death in Her Hands” — described as an “anarchic whodunnit” and “an otherworldly psychological thriller” — is adapted by Lowery (“A Ghost Story,” “The Green Knight”) from the cult novel by Ottessa Moshfegh (“My Year of Rest and Relaxation”).
See-Saw Films, the Oscar-winning powerhouse behind “The Power of the Dog,” “The King’s Speech” and “One Life” (and, on the TV front, “Slow Horses” and “Heartstopper”), is on board to produce.
in “Death in Her Hands,” while walking in the woods near her new home, recent widow Vesta Gul (Swinton) comes across a chilling handwritten note: “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body.” Except there is no body. No blood. Unmoored by the death of her husband and armed only with a camera, her dog Charlie, and her vivid imagination, Gul becomes obsessed with uncovering Magda’s identity and fate. As the synopsis reads, “as her inner world begins to eclipse reality, the mystery of Magda threatens Vesta’s grip on her own life — until, in a spellbinding operatic climax, we realise that Magda’s death may finally allow Vesta to live.”
The film will be produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Jeanie Igoe; executive producers are Simon Gillis and Ann Phillips. Cross City Films, See-Saw’s in-house sales arm, are teaming up with WME Independent to secure financing at Cannes.
“I am a devoted fan of Ottessa Moshfegh, and the opportunity to translate ‘Death In Her Hands’ to the big screen has been, in some ways, a subterfuge for getting to spend a great deal of time obsessing over her prose. But now the ruse is up!” said Lowery, currently in post on “Mother Mary.”
“The script begot by the novel will soon become a film, and I am suddenly aware more than ever that adapting this particular work represents a devious challenge (anyone who’s read the novel will understand why)! But I’m ready for it, and am emboldened to have such wonderful collaborators at my side: the whole team at See-Saw, Jeanie, and of course, the incredible Tilda Swinton, who I know will illuminate Ottessa’s story in ways I could only dream of.”
Added producers Canning and Sherman: “David Lowery is a master of crafting striking, atmospheric stories, and there’s no one better to bring Ottessa Moshfegh’s haunting and brilliant novel to the screen. We can’t wait for audiences to step into the world he creates and be swept away by Vesta’s story, played by the incomparable, magnetic, and endlessly compelling Tilda Swinton.”
Swinton is repped by Hamilton Hoddell, CAA and Peikoff Mahan. Lowery is repped by WME and Victoria Cook at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
