According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix and Oscar nominee Rooney Mara have signed on to star in the upcoming drama thriller film titled The Island, which will be loosely based on real events. This marks the real-life couple’s latest collaboration after previously starring together in the romance drama Her, the comedy-drama Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, and the biblical drama Mary Magdalene.
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The Island will be written and directed by acclaimed Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War). Production is expected to begin next year.
Phoenix and Mara are set to portray an attractive American couple in the 1930s, “who escape to their own private paradise on a deserted island and live off the land,” reads the synopsis. “But after a millionaire passing by on his yacht turns the couple into a tabloid newspaper sensation, a self-styled countess appears with two lovers and plans to build a luxury hotel on the island. As battle lines are quickly drawn, psychological warfare ensues between the countess and the American couple as sexual infidelity, betrayal, and eventually, murder takes place among the island interlopers.”
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The Island will be produced by Tanya Seghatchian, John Woodward, Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Gangarossa, and Ewa Puszczynska, with Reno Antoniades executive producing. It hails from Apocalypso Pictures, Brightstar, Wildside, Vision Distribution, and Extreme Emotions.
Phoenix will next be seen in Ari Aster’s Disappointment Blvd., Ridley Scott’s Napoleon biopic, and Todd Phillips’ DC sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. Meanwhile, audiences will be seeing Mara in theaters later this year for the all-star drama Women Talking.