Netflix’s adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover is filling out its titular character’s salon of confidants. Deadline reports that Joely Richardson, Ella Hunt, and Faye Marsay have been cast in the dual 3000 Pictures and Netflix production, which is set to star Emma Corrin in the title role, alongside Jack O’Connell and Matthew Duckett, as the first film under Sony Pictures’ new first-look deal with Netflix.
Based on the D.H. Lawrence novel of the same name, Lady Chatterley’s Lover follows a woman of wealth and privilege (Corrin), who finds herself married to a man she does not care for, only to fall in love with a gamekeeper and break every traditional vow expected of her. Richardson is set to play Mrs. Bolton, the caregiver of the Chatterley estate who bonds with her mistress in a way that breaks every rule of class and tradition for the time. Hunt plays Mrs. Flint, a kind young woman from a nearby village who becomes Lady Chatterley’s first real friend, and Marsay plays Hilda, the lady’s witty older sister determined to protect her little sibling from harm.
With a host of Lady Chatterley’s closest confidantes now cast, the Netflix adaptation now seems to have its core cast set in stone. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre is set to direct the feature, with a script from Life of Pi writer David Magee and Academy Award nominees Laurence Mark, Pete Czernin, and Graham Broadbent producing. Marisa Paiva is also overseeing the project for 3000 Pictures.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the first film in what can be expected to be a long list of collaborations between Sony Pictures and Netflix. Announced in April, the studio has partnered with the streaming giant in a deal that allows them to offer Netflix a “first look” at any of the films it intends to create or license for streaming, with Netflix agreeing to make a certain number of those films over the course of the deal. Sony will not explicitly distribute any of the films in the deal, but it has been confirmed that Netflix can still choose to run the features theatrically for a chance to qualify for awards season — something that may very well happen with Lady Chatterley.