Adaption of Elena Ferante’s ‘The Lost Daughter’ to Star Olivia Coleman

Olivia Coleman (The Favourite) is set to star in a Netflix adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s 2006 novel The Lost Daughter. 

Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight) will be making her directorial debut, and wrote the screen play for the new movie.

The Netflix press release explains the synopsis of the movie: “Alone on a seaside vacation, Leda (Olivia Colman) becomes consumed with a young mother (Dakota Johnson) and daughter as she watches them on the beach. Unnerved by their compelling relationship (and their raucous and menacing extended family), Leda is overwhelmed by her own memories of the terror, confusion, and intensity of early motherhood. An impulsive act shocks Leda into the strange and ominous world of her own mind, where she is forced to face the unconventional choices she made as a young mother and their consequences.”

The Lost Daughter will hit cinemas on December 17th and will be available on Netflix on December 31st.

Olivia Coleman in The Lost Daughter (via Netflix)

The Lost Daughter will star Olivia Colman as Leda and Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson as Nina. The Haunting of Bly Manor’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen will play Toni, Peter Sarsgaard of The Magnificent Seven fame will play Professor Hardy, and Paul Mescal (Normal People) plays Will.

Jessie Buckley, Jack Farthing, Panos Koronis, Ed Harris, Robyn Elwell, Dagmara Dominczyk, Athena Martinand Ellie Blake have joined the cast as well.

Gyllenhaal explained to Deadline what drew her to adapting The Lost Daughter. “When I finished reading Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter, I felt that something secret and true had been said out loud. And I was both disturbed and comforted by that. I immediately thought how much more intense the experience would be in a movie theatre, with other people around. And I set to work on this adaptation,” she said. “I find that the script has attracted other people interested in exploring these secret truths about motherhood, sexuality, femininity, desire. And I’m thrilled to continue my collaboration with such brave and exciting actors and filmmakers.”