The Staircase costars Toni Collette and Odessa Young will reunite in the twisted revenge thriller The Prima Donna. The film, set in the rarified world of opera, will be written and directed by Nathan Silver for Cornerstone. Set in Rome, the David Gordon Green-produced film will center around Livia Angelli (Collette), a renowned opera diva who is preparing for the role of a lifetime when she's suddenly confronted with her fresh-out-of-rehab estranged daughter, Mimi (Young).
Mimi has one request for Livia; she wants to be her understudy. Livia cruelly dismisses her, sending the unstable Mimi over the edge. She wants to get the ultimate revenge on her mother - but Livia is no pushover. What results is a battle of wills that threatens to destroy both women and everything around them. Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder describe it as "a highly entertaining adult thriller".
Australian actor Collette first came to international attention with her lead performance in the acclaimed comedy-drama Muriel's Wedding, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She was subsequently nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Haley Joel Osment's mother in 1999's The Sixth Sense. Other performances of note on her resume include About a Boy, Hereditary, Knives Out, and I'm Thinking of Ending Things. She has also found success on TV, playing the title role on Showtime's United States of Tara, and also had leading roles on the miniseries Unbelievable, Pieces of Her, and The Staircase. She can next be seen in the crime comedy Mafia Mamma. In addition to The Staircase, fellow Australian Young starred in A Million Little Pieces, Shirley, and the 2020 remake of Stephen King's The Stand. She can next be seen in the Jesse Eisenberg thriller Manodrome. Silver is a prolific New York-based writer and director, whose features include Thirst Street and The Great Pretender; his latest film, Watch Me Drown, will premiere later this year.
The Prima Donna is a Dark Castle Entertainment and Rough House Pictures production and is produced by David Lancaster, Julian Lawitschka, and Wolfgang Hammer, with Dark Castle’s Hal Sadoff, Ethan Erwin, and Alex Mace. Green will executive produce, along with Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and Brandon James from Rough House Pictures, Collette through Vocab Films, and Nick Shumaker from Anonymous Content. Silver will co-write the script with C. Mason Wells.
The Prima Donna will be shopped at the upcoming European Film Market. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.