Jennifer Lawrence to reunite with Gary Ross for “Burial Rites”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence is in talks to reunite with the director of The Hunger Games, Gary Ross, on a murder-themed drama set in the wintry wilds of 19th-century Iceland, The Guardian reported citing Deadline.

Burial Rites, based on the novel by Australian author Hannah Kent, is the story of a woman sent to an isolated farm while she awaits execution for murdering her former employer in 1829. The family that owns the farm is suitably horrified at the prospect of sharing their home with a killer.

The novel was longlisted for the Guardian's First Book award earlier this year. Sarah Moss labelled it "beautiful and compelling" … "with the flaws of a good first novel", adding: "The allure of the tale is obvious and one can see why Kent was haunted by it. The dynamics of a small group of people on an isolated farmstead are disrupted by the arrival of a disturbing stranger, who turns out to be uncomfortably familiar."

Burial Rites is the second new Ross film named as a potential starring vehicle for Lawrence in the space of a month. She will also shoot a remake of the 1955 Elia Kazan melodrama East of Eden, based on the John Steinbeck novel. The original version, which was adapted from the second half of Steinbeck's book, helped make James Dean's name in Hollywood.

Ross's stewardship of The Hunger Games was seen as something of a triumph, the dystopian science-fiction tale having picked up strong reviews and scored impressively at the box office last year. However, the director was controversially replaced with Francis Lawrence, director of Water for Elephants, for Catching Fire, the second in what is expected to be four films based on Suzanne Collins's bestselling trilogy.

Ross walked away from Catching Fire after complaining studio Lionsgate had not allowed enough time for the follow-up to be properly prepared. The studio countered that Lawrence's hectic schedule did not allow for a delay.

Lawrence will also be reuniting with David O Russell, who oversaw her Oscar-winning role in comedy drama Silver Linings Playbook, and its co-star Bradley Cooper, for the 70s conman period piece American Hustle. A series of highly stylised posters from the film were released on the web earlier this week. The movie will also star Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.