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Update 03.22.17 10 a.m.: Insiders tell the Tracking Board that Evan Rachel Wood’s directorial debut is about four childhood friends, each struggling with their own issues, who take a road trip to spread the ashes of one of their mothers, and wind up learning something about themselves at each stop along the way.
The original story is below.
On the 20th anniversary for her foray into show business, Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood is set to make her directorial debut this year, and she has lined up quite the cast to join her.
Jenny Slate, Alison Pill and Cynthia Erivo are set to star alongside Wood in a mysterious road trip movie that will soon begin filming in Vancouver, according to Vulture’s new profile of Slate.
Representatives for Wood did not respond to requests for comment, and as such, the project’s title, logline and producers still remain under wraps.
Wood got her start in 1997 with Timothy Hutton’s low-budget indie Digging to China before graduating to studio movies with 1998’s Practical Magic starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. It didn’t take long to define herself as one of the premiere actresses of her generation, with starring turns in the acclaimed indies Thirteen, Pretty Persuasion, The Upside of Anger, Down in the Valley and King of California.
Once the rising young star was firmly on Hollywood’s radar, she began working with A-list directors such as Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler), Woody Allen (Whatever Works), Robert Redford (The Conspirator) and George Clooney (The Ides of March).
It’s safe to assume that Wood gained vital knowledge about filmmaking from those directors, and is well prepared to step behind the camera herself. She also has the industry clout right now to make the transition, giving her starring turn as Dolores Abernathy on HBO’s Westworld. As an actress, Wood will soon be seen in the indies Viena and the Fantomes with Dakota Fanning and A Worthy Companion with Denis O’Hare. She’s repped by CAA and Ziffren Brittenham.
Slate just voiced Harley Quinn in The LEGO Batman Movie and next stars opposite her real-life ex-boyfriend Chris Evans in Marc Webb’s Gifted. Repped by WME, she also has the Sundance movies Landline and The Polka King on the horizon.
Coming off roles in Hail, Caesar! and Miss Sloane, Pill will soon be seen in Goon: Last of the Enforcers, directed by her own real-life ex-boyfriend Jay Baruchel. She’s repped by CAA and the Burstein Company.
Erivo has as much heat as any of her fellow actresses, having just won a Tony for her performance in The Color Purple on Broadway. She recently booked lead roles in Steve McQueen’s Widows and Seith Mann’s Harriet Tubman biopic. She’s repped by UTA, Authentic Talent and Literary Management, Claire Hoath Management and Peikoff Mahan.
Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief
