Before the uproar begins, please note that Netflix’s upcoming Rebecca is a direct adaptation of the original Daphne du Maurier novel – not the 1940 Best Picture-winning film by the great Alfred Hitchcock. Still, I’ll admit that Hitch’s film is near-perfect, so it’s hard to imagine another take on the same material. That said, director Ben Wheatley brings Armie Hammer, Lily James, and Kristin Scott Thomas to Manderley in his adaptation from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse.
For those who don’t know, Rebecca tells the story of a young newlywed (James) whose husband, Maxim de Winter (Hammer) welcomes her to his English estate, Manderley, which is haunted by the memory of his deceased first wife. Thomas plays the infamous housekeeper Mrs. Danvers who definitely doesn’t want a new Mrs. de Winter.
Judging from the newly released trailer, the film looks visually stunning, and Thomas’s take on Mrs. Danvers looks very fun. Is it awards scenery-chewing fun? TBD for sure.
What do you think, kind readers?
Rebecca drops October 21 on Netflix and in select theaters.
Rebecca
Film Release Date: October 21, 2020
Directed By: Ben Wheatley
Screenplay By: Jane Goldman and Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse
Based on the Novel By: Daphne du Maurier
Produced By: Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan, Nira Park
Cast:
Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keeley Hawes, Ann Dowd, Sam Riley, Tom Goodman-Hill, Mark Lewis Jones, John Hollingworth, Bill Paterson
Synopsis:
After a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo with handsome widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), a newly married young woman (Lily James) arrives at Manderley, her new husband’s imposing family estate on a windswept English coast. Naive and inexperienced, she begins to settle into the trappings of her new life, but finds herself battling the shadow of Maxim’s first wife, the elegant and urbane Rebecca, whose haunting legacy is kept alive by Manderley’s sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas). Directed by Ben Wheatley (High Rise, Free Fire) and produced by Working Title Films (Emma, Darkest Hour), REBECCA is a mesmerising and gorgeously rendered psychological thriller based on Daphne du Maurier’s beloved 1938 gothic novel.
Before the uproar begins, please note that Netflix’s upcoming Rebecca is a direct adaptation of the original Daphne du Maurier novel – not the 1940 Best Picture-winning film by the great Alfred Hitchcock. Still, I’ll admit that Hitch’s film is near-perfect, so it’s hard to imagine another take on the same material. That said, director Ben Wheatley brings Armie Hammer, Lily James, and Kristin Scott Thomas to Manderley in his adaptation from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse.
