The Cannes Film Festival is currently underway and with it are some hot market packages that are beginning to take shape. One that has gotten considerable attention is Stone Mattress, starring Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh, and based on the acclaimed New Yorker short story by Margaret Atwood.
Lynne Ramsay is directing the film and it’s described as a “blue-chip revenge thriller, set on a cruise ship in the Arctic.” Julianne Moore is set to play Verna, a 60-year-old retired physiotherapist who is twice widowed. She embarks on a cruise into the Arctic Northwest Passage, which is populated by privileged influencers and wealthy retirees. While on the cruise, Verna meets Grace (Oh) and Bob (still being cast). Grace is friendly and charming while Bob is seemingly ordinary. Bob is in his mid-sixties and has inherited the family business. Despite not having much of Verna’s elegance and wit, Bob tries to seduce her but Verna suspects he’s not as harmless as he appears to be and he began to trouble Verna. As Verna’s past wounds begin to resurface, the calm of the cruise will be turned upside down by a shocking act. The film’s director also wrote the movie with Tom Townend and she’s revealing what attracted her to Atwood’s original short story:
“I first read Margaret Atwood when I was a teenager, and her work has gripped me ever since. She is simply one of the most intelligent, prophetic, and engaging writers around and Stone Mattress is another perfect illustration of that. I was immediately gripped by the way it framed the deeply buried trauma of a post-menopausal woman – an age group we hear from all too rarely – through the dynamic and multifaceted character of Verna. From its tongue-in-cheek humor to its moments of icy vengeance and delicate portrayal of an emotional repression specific to the boomer generation, it is a story I’ve wanted to materialize on-screen since my first reading.”
Amazon is already in place for the domestic release of the film while StudioCanal and Film4 are in final negotiations to join with the streamer to launch sales of the project on the Riviera, per Deadline. The film has plans to shoot in September on location in Greenland and Iceland.
Are YOU interested in Stone Mattress?