Joaquin Phoenix And Rooney Mara Board Pawel Pawlikowski’s New Film ‘The Island,’ FilmNation Entertainment To Launch Sales At AFM, WME Independent To Handle US

Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara are set to star in Pawel Pawlikowski’s next feature The Island (w/t), a dramatic thriller scheduled to start shooting in 2023. FilmNation Entertainment will launch international sales at AFM next month.

Written and directed by Pawlikowski, the flick is inspired by true events and follows an attractive American couple in the 1930s who turn their back on civilization to build their own private paradise on a deserted island and live off the land. But after a millionaire passing by on his yacht inadvertently turns them into a tabloid newspaper sensation, a self-styled Countess arrives out of the blue with her two strange lovers with plans to take over the island and build a luxury hotel. This larger-than-life European “countess” and her entourage soon begin to threaten the Eden that the couple has built and battle lines are quickly drawn. Psychological warfare ensues as seduction and jealousy descend into sexual infidelity, betrayal, and eventually murder—at exactly the same time, nature itself turns against these island interlopers.

The film is produced by Tanya Seghatchian and John Woodward for Apocalypso Pictures as well as Brightstar. Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa are co-producing for Wildside, a Fremantle company, with Vision Distribution in collaboration with Sky. Ewa Puszczynska is co-producing for Extreme Emotions. Reno Antoniades is Executive producer.

Read the full article on Deadline.