A new film version of Rebecca, based on Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic novel, is in the works, with Lily James and Armie Hammer confirmed in the lead roles.
A 1940 adaptation of Rebecca, about a newly married woman oppressed by the memory of her husband’s first wife, was Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film, and won the best picture Oscar in 1940.
James, who starred in the live-action Disney fairytale reboot of Cinderella, will play the lead, while Hammer is due to play Maxim de Winter, whose apparent obsession with the dead Rebecca unnerves her. Hammer won considerable acclaim for his role in Call Me by Your Name, opposite Timothée Chalamet, and plays Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband Martin Ginsburg in The Opposite of Sex.
In an unlikely directorial choice, High Rise’s Ben Wheatley has been hired to direct, with Woman in Black and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children writer Jane Goldman taking on script duties. British production outfit Working Title are overseeing in collaboration with Netflix.
Release plans are not known yet, but it is likely the film will see some sort of cinema outing, as it is possible it may become an awards contender.
