Looks like Kate Winslet is no longer the favourite for The Favourite. At least, it seems she won’t be taking the lead role in The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos’ new drama. But he already has a new possibility, with Rachel Weisz in talks to take over the role of Sarah, a close confidante to Queen Anne.
Weisz, of course, would make the second former Lobster actress to join the film after Olivia Colman, who was talked about alongside Emma Stone when Winslet was in contention. Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara have written the script for this one, which will see Colman crowned as Anne, final monarch of the Stuarts. Ruling between 1702 and 1707 (monarchs generally didn’t get to sit on the throne as long as Liz has). Stone is looking to play Abigail Masham, a poverty-stricken distant relative of Sarah’s, who is suddenly granted a position at court tending to the Queen, resulting in a shifting balance of power between the courtiers.
Lanthimos has been developing this one through the summer and is now looking to find the financing so he can start shooting next spring. Weisz plays a lovelorn woman in The Lobster, which about to hit UK screens. She was recently announced as in early talks to star in thriller remake** My Cousin Rachel**for Roger Michell and has a number of films set to arrive including Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans (out January 8) Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth (January 29) and untitled projects from James Marsh and Joshua Marston, neither of which have announced release dates.