Tom Hooper to Direct Film Adaptation of PHOTOGRAPH 51; Natalie Portman to Star
The screenplay will be adapted by original playwright Anna Ziegler.
Following 2019's Cats, Tom Hooper is returning to the director's chair for his next feature. According to Deadline, Hooper is helming a film adaptation of Anna Ziegler's play Photograph 51, which follows the true story of British scientist Rosalind Franklin. Ziegler will adapt her script for the movie, which is now set to star Natalie Portman as Franklin. Hooper will bring the project to the Cannes Film Market this year.
The play follows Franklin, a British science pioneer, who played a groundbreaking role in the discovery of DNA's double-helix structure in the 1950s. Photograph 51 offers an intriguing portrait of a complex, courageous woman who makes her way in a male-dominated field. As rival teams of researchers compete for a breakthrough, Franklin, focused and unbending, is locked in a race of her own. Directed by Michael Grandage, the West End production of Photograph 51 received rave reviews during its London run, which saw Nicole Kidman as the scientist.
Anna Ziegler is an award-winning playwright who received London's WhatsOnStage award for Best New Play in 2016 for Photograph 51. In 2017, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen Playhouse premiered her play Actuall, and Roundabout Theatre Company produced The Last Match. Her work has been produced on the West End, The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, South Coast Rep, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and more.
Tom Hooper is an Oscar-winning director whose films include The King's Speech, Les Misérables, The Danish Girl, and Cats. For television, his credits include Elizabeth I, John Adams, and His Dark Materials.
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