Oscar Isaac made a big name for himself last year with his brilliant performance as Standard in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, and this year should see him rise to even greater (and much deserved) recognition.
With a slew of upcoming roles in various stages of completion, post-production, and filming, word now comes via Deadline that Isaac has joined as one of the leads in Charlie Stratton’s Therese Raquin, adapting Emile Zola’s original 19th century novel.
*Spoiler alert: If you don’t want to know anything about this film, look away now, because I’m about to give you the plot synopsis for the novel, via Waterstones*
“Set in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a dingy haberdasher’s shop in the passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris, this powerful novel tells how the heroine and her lover, Laurent, kill her husband, Camille, but are subsequently haunted by visions of the dead man and prevented from enjoying the fruits of their crime. Published in 1867, this is Zola’s most important work before the Rougon-Macquart series and introduces many of the themes that can be traced through the later novel cycle.”
Rising Sundance-favourite Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) will be playing the eponymous Thérèse, with Tom Felton (Harry Potter, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) starring as her husband Camille, and now Isaac is joining as Olsen’s lover, Laurent.
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) was originally set to star as Madame Raquin, but it looks like Jessica Lange (Big Fish) may have taken her place as Camille’s mother.
Stratton will direct from his own script, and filming is set to take place later this year.
Isaac has a number of very promising films due out this year, including Ten Year, For Greater Glory, Won’t Back Down, Revenge for Jolly!, and The Bourne Legacy (due out in the UK on 17th August), not to mention the fact that he’s currently filming the next Coen brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, as the eponymous Llewyn Davis. Clearly, he’s a man to be keeping an eye on, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing him starring alongside the young and rising Elizabeth Olsen in what sounds like a very promising project. More as we get it.
Side-note: If you haven’t seen Drive, I urge you to watch it as soon as humanly possible.
