See Florence Pugh in Netflix's gothic period drama The Wonder
Netflix has released the first look of a newly brunette Florence Pugh in The Wonder, an adaptation of Emma Donoghue's compelling novel of the same title.
Set in the Irish Midlands in 1862, the eerie psychodrama follows Pugh as a well-educated English nurse Lib Wright who is summoned to a tiny impoverished village to observe eleven-year old Anna O'Donnell.
Tourists and pilgrims arrive en masse to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Some believe the village harbouring a saint 'surviving on manna from heaven' while others think there could be more ominous motives at work.
Lib expects to expose the hoax right away, but after developing a close bond with the vulnerable girl, she becomes more and more unsure. The psychological thriller is inspired by the 19th century phenomenon of the "fasting girls".
The cast also includes Niamh Algar, Tom Burke, Elaine Cassidy, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Dermot Crowley, Brían F. O'Byrne and David Wilmot.
Academy Award-nominated Donoghue is the novelist of Room, which was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Brie Larson in 2015.
Acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio, whose 2017 feature A Fantastic Woman won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, will direct the project and co-write it with Donoghue and Alice Burch.
Lelio said: "Bringing the powerful novel The Wonder by Emma Donoghue to the screen not only offers me the chance to portray the collision between reason and faith, individual and community, obedience and rebellion, but also to explore my own interpretation of what a “period" film can be.
"I couldn’t be more thrilled that the magnetic and courageous Florence Pugh will play our fierce female lead. I am also excited to be reunited with Ed Guiney and Element, to have the privilege to work with Tessa Ross and House, and honoured that Netflix have chosen The Wonder as their first UK Features endeavour."
Black Marvel's Pugh recently revealed that she had started filming the movie and had dyed her hair from blonde to brunette for the part.
"We’ve been traipsing around the Irish hills for the last week and it’s truly been a magnificent start to a beautiful and exciting film, Pugh wrote on Instagram. "What a story to get our teeth stuck into, what a crew to be working alongside and a fantastic director Sebastian Lelio to be leading us! This will be fun."
The Wonder will launch on Netflix.
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