Paul Mescal has joined the cast for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming film adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel The Lost Daughter, as announced by the Hollywood Reporter. The film will be both Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut and Mescal’s feature film debut, having starred in Normal People earlier this year.
The upcoming project will also bring together Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, and The Favourite’s Olivia Colman for the adaptation of Ferrante’s 2006 novel, which focuses on a middle-aged college professor (Colman) on a summer holiday at the seaside, reflecting on troubling memories of early motherhood.
“When I finished reading Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter, I felt that something secret and true had been said out loud,” Gyllenhaal told Deadline back in February. “And I was both disturbed and comforted by that. I immediately thought how much more intense the experience would be in a movie theatre, with other people around.”
Since earning an Emmy nomination for his role in Normal People, Mescal has also cropped up in a music video for The Rolling Stones, and last month he appeared in the four-part psychological thriller The Deceived (watch the trailer here).