The Prima Donna: Toni Collette, Odessa Young star in revenge thriller

Toni Collette (Knives Out) and Odessa Young (the more recent mini-series based on Stephen King’s The Stand) have signed on to star in the “twisted and darkly funny” revenge thriller The Prima Donna, which is set to start filming in Rome, Italy in the summer. Directed by Nathan Silver (Uncertain Terms), who also wrote the screenplay with C. Mason Wells, The Prima Donna will tell the story of two feuding opera singers and the lengths they’ll go for the limelight.

According to Variety, the film will be set in Rome and center on legendary opera diva Livia Angelli (Collette), who prepares to step into the role of a lifetime, just as her estranged daughter Mimi (Young) shows up at her doorstep, right out of rehab. An aspiring opera singer herself, Mimi summons the courage to ask Livia for the chance to be her understudy. But when she’s met by her mother’s callous dismissal, Mimi snaps and looks to exact the ultimate revenge on the woman who barely raised her.

A collaboration between Dark Castle Entertainment, which is providing the financing, and Rough House Pictures, The Prima Donna is being produced by David Lancaster, Julian Lawitschka, and Wolfgang Hammer, with Dark Castle’s Hal Sadoff, Ethan Erwin, and Alex Mace. David Gordon Green, who recently directed a trilogy of Halloween sequels and is now plotting a trilogy of sequels to The Exorcist, serves as executive producer alongside Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and Brandon James from Rough House Pictures, Nick Shumaker from Anonymous Content, and Collette, who executive produces through Vocab Films.

Collette and Young previously worked together on the HBO series The Staircase.

The Prima Donna sounds interesting to me and Collette and Young are great choices to lead the cast, so I look forward to seeing how this movie is going to turn out. Are you interested in The Prima Donna? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

In addition to Uncertain Terms, Silver has also directed The Blind, Exit Elena, Soft in the Head, Stinking Heaven, Actor Martinez, Thirst Street, The Great Pretender, and Cutting My Mother… and I can’t say I’ve seen any of them.