“Mustang” Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven Joins Anne Hathaway on “The Lifeboat” at Focus (Exclusive)

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After directing the foreign language film Mustang to an Oscar nomination last year, Turkish-French filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven has come on to direct an adaptation of Charlotte Rogan’s book THE LIFEBOAT for Focus Features, the Tracking Board has exclusively learned.

Ergüven replaces director Joe Wright as the captain of The Lifeboat, which still has Anne Hathaway attached to star and produce alongside Working Title, Film 360 and Focus.

The book follows Grace Winter (Hathaway), a young woman who recounts the tale of how she survived a shipwreck at sea while on trial for murder in 1914. The film explores the moral crisis that presents itself when she discovers there are too many people on board her lifeboat and if some don’t abandon ship, they’ll all perish.

Working Title’s Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Liza Chasin are producing the drama with Film 360’s Suzan Bymel and Ben Forkner. Film 360 packaged the project with Hathaway and screenwriter William Broyles Jr. before bringing it to Working Title and Focus.

After winning numerous awards for Mustang, Ergüven has a bright future ahead of her, as she just wrapped the Daniel Craig-Halle Berry movie Kings, which is set against the violent backdrop of the Rodney King trial in 1992. She’s represented by CAA and Management 360.

 Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief