Dakota Fanning to star in Gerard Barrett’s adaptation of Brain On Fire

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

With GLASSLAND still to hold its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the movies director Gerard Barrett has already lined up his next job. He will direct Dakota Fanning in a film adaptation of Susannah Calahan's memoir “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness”. I had never heard of the book until now but it sounds like it has the potential to be a powerful project for both its director and star. Dakota will be playing Calahan; Charlize Theron will produce the film but there is no word yet if she will act in the project.

Here’s the official synopsis for Calahan’s book:

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.  When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

Well that sounds utterly terrifying. Fanning is no stranger to dramatic acting having turned in some powerful performances even at a young age. Films like MAN ON FIRE, I AM SAM, HOUNDDOG, THE RUNAWAYS, and the more recent NIGHT MOVES are all fine example of the talented work she’s delivered. Has anyone read this memoir? Let us know your thoughts either way below.

BRAIN ON FIRE plans to shoot in May.