Isla Johnston In Talks To Lead Baz Luhrmann’s JEHANNE D'ARC Epic At Warner Bros

Newcomer Isla Johnston ("Invasion", "The Queen's Gambit") is in talks to lead the upcoming Warner Bros epic "Jehanne d'Arc" from director Baz Luhrmann ("Elvis", "The Great Gatsby", "Moulin Rouge"). The film is Luhrmann's passion project and has been in the works for 30 years. It is based on "Schindler's List" auhor Tom Keneally's novel "Blood Red, Sister Rose", and the adaptation is penned by playwright Ava Pickett, who wrote the script with Luhrmann. Pickett said: "What we have on paper is a career-defining role that requires the right qualities, skill set, and an ability to capture the essence of youth in this moment"

The film chronicles the story of Joan of Arc, the young French peasant who believed God had sent her to lead an army and that she would save her country during the Hundred Years' War. The lead role was described as "The ultimate teenage girl coming of age story, set in the Hundred Years' War." Joan was burned at the stake in the 1400s after leading the troops in the Siege of Orleans and pressing for the coronation of Charles VII as the French king during the war. She is considered a patron saint of France.

Pickett recently conducted the first reading of the script for most of the teams from Warner Bros, from production to marketing and publicity. This was done at the Chateau Marmont, in the room where the first draft of "Rebel Without a Cause" was read aloud for Warner Bros executives back in the day. Luhrmann's wife and design partner Catherine Martin backed up Pickett with a visual presentation.

Here's what Luhrmann had to say about the project: "I almost did Alexander the Great and then at one point I was going down the road on Napoleon, but more than ever, I realized I was waiting for the right time to tell this story and the idea of this ultimate teenage girl coming-of-age story set in a 100-year war. She's a young girl who's from a small town who manages to tell this 25-year-old king, 'We're going to be able to unite the country, and you'll be king'. It's that inspiration, that uplift. It's like now where the current generation needs to do what the generation before us did, and that is make space, lift up the new voices and the new energy, and make sure that they’re there to smash through this ossified world."

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