Helen Mirren will play acclaimed novelist Patricia Highsmith in the thriller Switzerland , directed by Anton Corbijn ( Control, A Most Wanted Man ).
The film, written by Australian playwright, screenwriter and novelist Joanna Murray-Smith , based on one of her plays, will see the writer involved in a story not so different from those she told in Tom Ripley ‘s literary saga .
In Switzerland , Patricia Highsmith has retired to live in solitude in the Swiss Alps, but a young literary agent, Edward, crashes into her house to convince her, on behalf of the writer’s publisher, to make one last novel in the Ripley saga. Highsmith uses her famous macabre imagination to drive Edward away, but before they know her, a partnership ensues that gradually blurs the line between the real world and the imagined world.
The film will be produced by Gaby Tana, Troy Lum and Andrew Mason for Brouhaha Entertainment, and by Jim Robison and Kurt Martin for Lunar Pictures. Shooting will start in the coming months in Europe. The producers said:
We were so impressed by Joanna’s brilliant script and when we pitched it to Anton Corbijn he immediately shared our enthusiasm for this psychological thriller. Anton has a fantastic eye, and all of his films have powerful central performances, which makes him perfect for Switzerland , a story that is basically a thrilling match between two beautifully written characters. We are so delighted to have the formidable Helen Mirren in the role of Patricia Highsmith: she will be perfectly able to condense the icy menacing nature of Highsmith and her blend of monstrosity and vulnerability.
Anton Corbijn, even before being a director, is known for the video clips he made for the likes of U2, Depeche Mode, Coldplay, Nirvana and Bryan Adams .