Star to film Irish nymphomania accusation drama
Chastain, 36, will film Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture, along with cinema legend Vanessa Redgrave, 76, in Sligo and Wicklow in June next year.
It is Chastain’s second film in Ireland after shooting Miss Julie with Colin Farrell in Fermanagh this year.
The book pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve the mystery of 100-year-old mental patient Roseanne McNulty — both Chastain and Redgrave will play Roseanne in the film.
Roseanne’s psychiatrist, Dr Grene, investigating her original commitment in preparation for her transfer to a new hospital, discovers that a local parish priest, Fr Gaunt, annulled her marriage on the charge of nymphomania after seeing her in the company of another man. The book charts the fallout.
Irish screenwriter Johnny Ferguson wrote the screenplay for The Secret Scripture in 2012. He died after a short illness last April.
His friend, Noel Pearson, will produce the film.
Mr Pearson, who signed both actresses last week, said: “The Secret Scripture is a wonderful novel. The thing about Johnny’s script is it’s very character-driven and actor-driven, and it wouldn’t work without the right actors. So we’re lucky to have Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave.”
Chastain was nominated in the Oscars for best actress in 2013 for Zero Dark Thirty, in which she played the CIA agent who spent a decade hunting Osama Bin Laden.
