EXCLUSIVE: After nabbing a Golden Globe nomination for her turn in Todd Haynes’ May December, Julianne Moore has been tapped to star opposite James McAvoy in Control, an action thriller from StudioCanal and The Picture Company on which we were first to report.
Based on the podcast from Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, Control revolves around the troubled Dr. Conway (McAvoy), who wakes up one morning to the sound of a mysterious voice in his head. With his reality now in question, the voice makes a series of escalating demands he must follow or devastating consequences will unfold. While specifics haven’t been disclosed, we hear that Moore plays a pivotal character with which the doctor must contend.
Entering production this month under the direction of Robert Schwentke (Red, Flight Plan), Control will be produced by The Picture Company partners Andrew Rona & Alex Heineman under their long-term overall deal with Studiocanal. This marks the fifth film the companies will have shot in Berlin in association with Studio Babelsberg. Ron Halpern and Shana Eddy are overseeing the project for StudioCanal.
In Netflix’s critically acclaimed drama May December, Moore plays Gracie, whose controversial relationship with husband Joe (Charles Melton), entered into when he was just 13 and she was 36, is thrust back into the light upon her introduction to the actress (Natalie Portman) set to play her in a film. Currently starring as Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, in Starz’s historical miniseries Mary & George, she’ll next be seen starring opposite Sydney Sweeney and Domhnall Gleeson in the Apple thriller Echo Valley. Also coming up for Moore is The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar’s first full-length English feature, in which she stars opposite Tilda Swinton.
Currently in theaters worldwide with the darkly comic Wicked Little Letters, starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, StudioCanal is poised to release its Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black in the U.S. via Focus Features on May 17. Currently in post, Paddington in Peru is also on the way, having been slated to begin its global rollout November 8.
Previously producing titles like Gunpowder Milkshake and A Million Little Pieces, The Picture Company is currently at work on James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet.
Moore is represented by WME, Entertainment 360, and Edelstein, Laird & Sobel.