Brie Larson, whose recent credits include ‘21 Jump Street’, ‘Don Jon’ and ‘Short Term 12’, has signed up to star in ‘Room’, the fifth feature of acclaimed Irish director Lenny Abrahamson. ‘Room’ is based on Emma Donoghue’s best-selling novel, and Donoghue will be writing the adapted screenplay. Ed Guiney of Element Pictures will produce the film.
Director Lenny Abrahamson has said, “‘Room’ is an extraordinary novel - deeply original, harrowing, full of moments of almost unbearable tension, but also - and this is what is so special about it - profoundly life-affirming. From the moment I read it I wanted to make it for the screen and so I am truly delighted to be working with Emma on the film adaptation.”
24 year-old actress Brie Larson will play Ma, a woman who is kidnapped as a teenager and held captive in a tiny room, in the feature-length drama. She lives there with her five year-old son, Jack, who has only ever known the room as his home. The story is inspired by the true story behind the Fritzl case, in which a woman was held captive for 24 years, during which time she was brutally abused and gave birth to seven children.
Larson is currently receiving critical acclaim as well as several award nominations and wins for her recent performance in ‘Short Term 12’, a trailer for which can be viewed below. She won the Breakthrough Artist Award and the Best Actress Award at the Austin Film Critics Association, as well as the Virtuosos Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for her emotional performance.
Ed Guiney’s producing credits include ‘The Guard, ‘Shadow Dancer’ and all of Lenny Abrahamson’s films to date. Abrahamson’s previous features include ‘Garage’, ‘Adam & Paul’ and ‘What Richard Did’, the latter of which was the big winner of the 2013 IFTAs. His films have also won awards at festivals in Cannes, Torino, Bulgaria and many other places.
His next feature is ‘Frank’, which is currently enjoying a number of international distribution deals. The comedy will be released in Ireland on 2nd May 2014.
An example of Brie Larson’s work can be seen below:
