Ella Beatty in Final Talks for Focus' 'The Bell Jar'
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Ella Beatty is in final talks to join Focus Features' adaptation of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, starring opposite Billie Eilish — in her film acting debut — as protagonist Esther Greenwood and Carey Mulligan as her mother; her specific role has not yet been determined
- Sarah Polley, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Women Talking, is set to direct The Bell Jar from her own script, with Plan B, Studiocanal and Joy Coalition producing and Joy Gorman Wettels having originated the project through Joy Coalition
- The Bell Jar, Plath's only novel, was published in 1963 and charts a semi-autobiographical descent into mental illness; Plath died by suicide one month after the book's first UK publication, while it became an instant bestseller in the U.S. and has since been translated into more than 40 languages
- Beatty won the lead in Netflix's Monster franchise's Lizzie Borden installment after an extensive multi-country casting search, sharing the screen with Rebecca Hall and Vicky Krieps in the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan-created true-crime anthology
- Beatty, Juilliard-trained, made her screen debut on FX/Hulu's Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, most recently appeared in the A24 drama If I Had Legs I'd Kick You opposite Rose Byrne and A$AP Rocky, and stars opposite Hugh Jackman in the Off-Broadway play Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes
Why it matters: The casting gives Beatty, a Juilliard-trained actress who debuted on screen just two years ago, a prestige literary adaptation to pair with her franchise lead in Netflix's Monster — an unusually rapid climb. Pairing first-time film actress Eilish with Oscar winner Polley writing and directing signals Focus is aiming for both pop-cultural draw and awards respectability for Plath's long-un-adapted 1963 novel.
