Michelle Williams Joins Daniel Craig and Cillian Murphy in Damien Chazelle’s Prison Drama
The next project from Oscar-winning La La Land director Damien Chazelle is finally set to begin filming this year, and he has officially found his leading lady.
Golden Globe winner Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) will star in Oscar Best Director winner Damien Chazelle’s (La La Land) upcoming untitled feature.
According to an exclusive report from Deadline yesterday, Golden Globe winner Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) will star in Oscar Best Director winner Damien Chazelle’s (La La Land) upcoming untitled feature. Written and directed by Chazelle, the story is reportedly a drama set within a prison. Williams joins an already powerhouse cast that includes former James Bond star Daniel Craig and Oscar-winning Best Actor Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer). Originally, Chazelle was developing a biopic about the legendary stuntman Evel Knievel with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead. However, DiCaprio reportedly put that project on hold to star in What Happens At Night, a psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starring Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence. With DiCaprio occupied, Chazelle pivoted back to this prison-set original story, which is expected to begin production later this year.
Damien Chazelle is currently one of Hollywood's most highly anticipated young directors and is the youngest Best Director winner in Oscar history. His film Whiplash won Oscars in 2015 for Best Supporting Actor (J.K. Simmons), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. La La Land took home Oscars in 2017 for Best Director, Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Production Design. First Man then won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 2019. His most recent work was 2022's Babylon, starring Academy Award winner Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood) and Margot Robbie (Barbie). However, the film received polarized reviews and underperformed at the box office, leading to a loss of over $80 million for Paramount.
Michelle Williams enters this project on a high note. Just last week, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television for her performance in Dying for Sex. This marks her third Golden Globe win, following her 2012 win for My Week with Marilyn and her 2020 win for Fosse/Verdon. Despite being a five-time Academy Award nominee—for Brokeback Mountain, Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn, Manchester by the Sea, and The Fabelmans—Williams has yet to take home an Oscar. With Chazelle's track record of directing actors to Academy recognition (such as Emma Stone and J.K. Simmons), many are already speculating that this new role could be the one to finally secure her the gold.
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Photo: FX
Source: Deadline