Ruth Wilson (The Affair) and Andrew Scott (Fleabag) are set to star in the HBO original movie Oslo, which boasts Steven Spielberg as an executive producer.
Bartlett Sher will direct from a script by fellow Tony Award winner J.T. Rogers, who also wrote the acclaimed stage play of the same name. The film is based on a true story about the negotiations between implacable enemies -- the secret back-channel talks, unlikely friendships and quiet heroics of a small but committed group of Israelis, Palestinians and one Norwegian couple that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.
Wilson will star as Mona Juul, a Norwegian foreign minister, while Scott will play her husband, Norwegian sociologist Terje Rød-Larsen. The supporting cast includes Salim Dau (Fauda) as Ahmed Qurie, Finance Minister of the PLO; Waleed Zuaiter (The Spy) as Hassan Asfour, Qurie's associate & PLO liaison; Jeff Wilbusch (Unorthodox) as Uri Savir, Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry; Igal Naor (Fauda) as Joel Singer, legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry; Dov Glickman (Shtisel) as Yair Hirschfield, Israeli Professor of Economics; Rotem Keinan (Fauda) as Ron Pundak, Hirschfield’s associate and fellow Israeli professor; Itzik Cohen (Fauda) as Yossi Beilin, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister; Tobias Zilliacus (Thicker Than Water) as Jan Egeland, Norwegian State Secretary; and Sasson Gabai (Stockholm) as Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of the State of Israel.
Spielberg will executive produce alongside Emmy winner Marc Platt (Bridge of Spies), Kristie Macosko Krieger (The Post) of DreamWorks, and David Litvak of Bold Films. Sher and Rogers will serve as co-executive producers along with Cambra Overend. Mark Taylor will produce Oslo alongside Jared LeBoff and Adam Siegel of Marc Platt Productions, as well as Michel Litvak, Gary Michael Walters and Svetlana Metkina of Bold Films.
"In collaboration with Steven, Kristie, Marc, and Bold Films, we’re delighted to work with J.T. and Bartlett to adapt their inspiring Tony Award-winning story for the screen,” said HBO's Tara Grace. “Recounting the remarkable feat of two diametrically opposed sides coming together to find common ground, Oslo’s themes are especially pertinent, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have so many revered artisans on both sides of the camera working together to bring this to life.”
“My memory of seeing Oslo on the stage for the first time is still so vivid. I felt then what I feel now – this is a powerful and necessary story for our times," added Kristie Macosko Krieger.
Filming has already begun in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and will continue this fall in Prague, Czech Republic. Oslo will debut on HBO and HBO Max sometime next year, but you won't have to wait that long to see Wilson on the network, as she's due back for Season 2 of His Dark Materials. Click here to find out when that big-budget series returns to HBO.