Gwendoline Christie Joins Robert Zemeckis, Steve Carell Drama
Gwendoline Christie will play Steve Carell's caretaker in an upcoming drama from Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Game of Thrones actress has joined the untitled drama, which is based on the 2010 Jeff Malmberg documentary Marwencol.
The drama follows Carell's Mark, a man who builds a tiny World War II-era village using action figures and dolls, all of whom represent his real-life alter egos, as a way to cope with a violent assault. The project is being marketed as "one broken man's fight as he discovers how artistic imagination can restore the human spirit." Christie will play his Russian caretaker Anna.
The rest of the cast includes Janelle Monae and Eiza Gonzalez as two of the women in the imaginary village and Diane Kruger as Deja Thoris, the Belgian Witch of Marwen who, in one of the recurring scenarios playing out in Mark's head, resurrects his alter ego when he is killed by Nazis. Arrow-verse actor Falk Hentschel will play Hauptsturmsfuhrer Ludwig Topf, a sadistic Nazi captain who terrifies the village, while Leslie Mann will play a real-world woman who is interested in learning more about Mark's hobby.
Christie has been on a roll recently, adding high-profile TV series like Top of the Lake and huge movies like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2 to her resume, in addition to her fan-favorite role on HBO's Game of Thrones. More recently, the actress took on the role of Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a part which she is set to reprise in the upcoming The Last Jedi. She is currently filming the sci-fi thriller The Darkest Minds opposite Mandy Moore and Amandla Stenberg.
Zemeckis will direct the untitled Marwencol drama based on a script he co-wrote with Caroline Thompson; he will also produce. Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, and Cherylanne Martin also produce. The movie is aiming to start production in the fall, but there is no word yet on a release date. While we wait, see some of the other movies that will blow you away this year.