Hey folks... in love with a bit of news today that Natalie Dormer is set to both star and produce a series about the life of actress Vivien Leigh.
The series will focus each episode on a particular project or performance in Leigh's life. Film fans will know of her battles on set, and the struggle to get her cast as Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND; stage fans will know of her Lady MacBeth performance in 1955 and how overshadowed her incredible performance was by critical praise for her husband, Sir Lawrence Olivier.
The series will be produced and run by FreemantleMedia and Mainstreet Pictures in the U.K. Stewart Harcourt (the "Maigret" films, and the outstanding 2010 adaptation of "Murder on the Orient Express" for "Agatha Christie's Poirot") will provide the screenplay, drawing from Kendra Bean's 2013 biography of Leigh.
Leigh's life and career as both a screen and stage actress will easily make a great story. I would count on Dormer giving a sympathetic but honest reading of Leigh's struggle with bipolar disorder and the toll it took on her relationships and career... I'm looking forward to seeing this.
-- Precious Roy
