Fresh off winning a BAFTA TV Award last night for Help, Jodie Comer is plunging headlong into another difficult on-screen situation that could be torn from the news headlines. She'll star in new environmental disaster thriller The End We Start From.
Alice Birch, whose day job is one of the writers providing the enjoyably spiky dialogue for Succession, adapted Megan Hunter's 2017 novel.
Set amid an environmental crisis that sees London submerged by flood waters, the feminist survival story focuses on a young family torn apart in the chaos. Comer will play a mother who with her new-born child tries to find a way home, navigating the most challenging and apocalyptic start to motherhood.
The Long Song's Mahalia Belo is on board to direct, and the film will be among the hotter projects up for sale at next week's Cannes Film Market.
"The End We Start From is very close to our hearts," say producers Leah Clarke, Liza Marshall and Adam Ackland in a statement carried by Deadline. "Megan’s heart-wrenching novel, and Alice’s wonderful adaptation, present a story about motherhood, separation, social and environmental upheaval, and those primal instincts in us which draw moments of joy and inspiration out of the chaos. We are incredibly excited to have Mahalia and Jodie lead this talented creative team in making what we know will be a resonant, riveting film."
Oh, and there is one other producer involved: one Benedict Cumberbatch, whose SunnyMarch company is involved in shepherding the film to screens. The cameras should be rolling in August.