If you've got a project that you want to sell at the Berlin Film Festival sales market, you can't go wrong attaching a couple of big names. So the team behind The Marsh King's Daughter has Alicia Vikander and Morten Tyldum ready to commit to make it.
Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith have adapted Karen Dionne's bestseller, with a story that could almost be pitched as a gender-swapped sequel to Room. Vikander is on to star as Helena Petterier, who appears to have a happy life with a great husband and a sweet young daughter.
Yet Helena harbours a dark secret: her mother was kidnapped as a teenager and she's the child of her mother and the tormentor who kept them locked away in a secret wilderness location for more than 12 years, until he was caught and jailed. Now, though, he's escaped from prison and Helena will be forced to confront her dangerous path, swearing to track down and stop the man she knows as The Marsh King.
"The Marsh King’s Daughter is one of the most hypnotic thrillers you’ll ever experience, much in the vein of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl, and who better than Morten Tyldum to direct this psychologically gripping story into a complex yet riveting tale about captivity and redemption,” says STX International president David Kosse. "We are thrilled to introduce this exceptionally compelling project from such an esteemed team of filmmakers and talent to our international partners in Berlin."
The film has already locked down its financing, so Tyldum should be calling the shots this year. Vikander, meanwhile, returns to our screens on 16 March with Tomb Raider.
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