There’s another round of changes for indie dramas happening at the moment. We reported on Wednesday that Dakota Fanning was replacing Mia Wasikowska in Brimstone. Which means that director Gerard Barrett needed someone new to star in Brain On Fire. Step forward Chloë Moretz{
No, despite the title, it’s not a Scanners-style sci-fi thriller. Brain On Fire has been adapted from Susannah Cahalan’s memoir, which was subtitled My Month Of Madness. The book chronicles Cahalan’s real-life experiences being diagnosed with a mystery illness that left her labelled psychotic, violent, and a dangerous flight risk. She woke up alone in a hospital room confined to the bed, unable to speak or move and with no memory of what happened. In the maelstrom, she’d lost everything: a promising newspaper career and her first serious relationship, and it took a lot of strength and the support of her family to get through it.
Thomas Mann is aboard to co-star in the film, which Barrett wrote and has Charlize Theron producing. Who, perhaps not so coincidentally, co-stars with Moretz in Gillian Flynn adaptation** Dark Places**, which is out in the US on August 7 but doesn’t yet have a UK date. Over here, the young actress will next be seen in sci-fi adaptation The 5th Wave, which arrives on January 29.