mothering sunday

Source: Bruno Chatelin/Andriy Makukha (Amakuha)/Gage Skidmore/Dillon Bryden

Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth

Josh O’Connor, Odessa Young, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth have signed to star Eva Husson’s romantic drama Mothering Sunday for the UK’s Number 9 Films and Film4. Rocket Science is handling sales and introducing to buyers at this week’s Cannes virtual market.

Mothering Sunday is based on Graham Swift’s novella of the same name which is set in 1924 in England. Alice Birch has written the adaptation. Her credits include the BIFA award-winning screenplay for William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Element Pictures’ TV series Normal People and HBO’s Succession.

Husson is the French director of Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) and Girls Of The Sun, which screened in competition at Cannes last year. 

Mothering Sunday is being produced by Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley of Number 9 Films, with financing from Film4 and Ingenious. It hopes to shoot in the UK this autumn.

O’Connor is a former Screen Star of Tomorrow with credits that include Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country and Netflix’s The Crown. Odessa Young has appeared in Shirley, Assassination Nation and A Million Little Pieces.

Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell, make-up designer Nadia Stacey (The Favourite), production designers Helen Scott (A Very English Scandal) and Editor Emilie Orsini (The Party, Girls Of The Sun) are attached.