Switching up the big studio projects with the smaller indie fare has always seemed to be Jessica Biel's modus operandi. Fitting then, that Biel will be joining Kaya Scodelario in **Emanuel And The Truth About Fishes, following her sci-fi ass-kicking in Len Wiseman's Total Recall.
As reported last week, Scodelario replaced Rooney Mara in the drama that marks Francesca Gregorini's second directorial effort (following Tanner Hall). Early reports revealed that it's about a young girl who's obsessed with her neighbour because she bears an uncanny resemblance to her dead mother, and agrees to babysit said neighbour's child, which turns out to be a lifelike doll.
We're now hearing that the neighbour's name is Linda, and that the doll is a surrogate, since Linda is dealing with the emotional after-effects of the death of her daughter. So it's not quite the bonkers Lars And The Real Girl-alike that it initially appeared. Since Emanuel has lost a mother and Linda has lost a daughter, we're starting to infer the film's emotional end-point. Early days yet though, so there's no real telling what might be in store.
Linda is the role that Biel's in line for, and while she hasn't officially quite signed yet, she's apparently in "final talks". The screenplay is Gregorini's own, and shooting presumably starts sometime early next year.