Sarah Polley’s long-awaited adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar has officially finished filming, Focus Features confirmed yesterday. The complete cast has also been formally revealed.
Billie Eilish stars as Esther Greenwood in her feature-film acting debut, with Carey Mulligan playing her mother, Mrs. Greenwood.
The film also features Danielle Deadwyler as Dr. Nolan, Dylan Hawco as Buddy Willard, Lili Taylor as Jay Cee, Ella Beatty as Joan, Maggie Kuntz as Doreen and Ike Barinholtz as Lenny. Heated Rivalry breakout Connor Storrie has also officially been confirmed as Marco, following weeks of reports about his involvement.
The Bell Jar marks Polley’s return to feature directing after Women Talking, the 2022 drama that earned her the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She wrote the new film herself, adapting Plath’s only novel for the screen.
Published in 1963, The Bell Jar follows Esther, a talented young writer whose promising summer in New York gives way to a devastating mental-health crisis. A semi-autobiography, the novel has remained one of the most influential works of 20th-century American literature.
Filming for the movie began in Ontario earlier this year, with Eilish photographed on location in Toronto in period costume. Focus Features has yet to announce a theatrical release date.
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