EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner Kenneth Branagh looks to have found his next director outing as well as landing an top tier star to lead the film as sources tell Deadline Emmy and BAFTA winner Jodie Comer is set to star in Branagh’s new film The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde, which he wrote and will direct. The film is being described as a contemporary psychological thriller but logline is being kept under wraps. The independently financed film will begin production in August in the UK.
Branagh will re-team with his Belfast producers Tamar Thomas, Laura Berwick, and Becca Kovacik, along with Matthew Jenkins, and Maximum Effort’s Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau. When word got out in recent weeks Branagh had his new project ready to go, the town was a buzz especially since his last original script, Belfast, won him an Oscar. Given how busy Comer is, her quick attachment is a good sign Branagh has another exciting original story in store for audiences.
Speaking of that busy schedule, Comer most recently starred in The End We Start From, a thriller from Benedict Cumberbatch’s SunnyMarch, Hera Pictures, Anton and BBC Film. The film was released in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles on December 8, 2023 and expanded in U.S. theaters on January 19, 2024.
Next, Comer will star in Jeff Nichols’ upcoming drama, The Bikeriders, alongside Tom Hardy and Austin Butler. The film is set to be released by Focus Features in on June 21, 2024. Comer will soon begin production for director Danny Boyle’s newest installment in the 28 Years Later trilogy, alongside Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, and Jack O’Connell.
Branagh most recently co-starred in Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture winning Oppenheimer. He recently wrapped production starring in Mayday opposite Ryan Reynolds for Apple Original Films and Skydance, and later this year will return to the stage to play King Lear opening at the Shed in New York in October, co-directing with Rob Ashford & Lucy Skilbeck. He last directed and starred in A Haunting in Venice, the final installment in his Agatha Christie trilogy for Disney. In 2021, Branagh won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Belfast, which also received an additional six nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.
Branagh is repped by WME, Berwick & Kovacik, Gochman Law Group and Comer is repped by Independent Talent Group, WME and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
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