Shailene Woodley is your new Patricia Highsmith. ‹ Literary Hub

May 12, 2023, 12:27pm

Move over, Dame Hellen Mirren, there’s a new Patricia Highsmith in town.

Shailene Woodley, star of Big Little Lies and [checks Wikipedia] a lot of films I’ve never heard of (sorry, I am old and there are so many YA things…), will play the lead in an upcoming genre biopic of the caustic queen of the psychological thriller.

As reported by Deadline yesterday:

Titled The Murderous Miss Highsmith, the film will reimagine the author’s life as a horror movie, focusing on the formative period just before she wrote her most celebrated work, The Talented Mr. Ripley, which was partly inspired by her doomed relationships with two women.

The project aims to get inside the mind of the author, who will be played by Emmy-nominee Woodley, and reveal her fascination for gruesome murders, exploring how her tumultuous love life influenced her persona. Cara Delevingne and Portrait of a Lady on Fire breakout [Noémie] Merlant will both face off against Woodley as her companions.

Between this, the aforementioned Helen Mirren-starring thriller-biopic, the soon-to-be released Ripley limited series, and, of course, the scandalously under-appreciated 2022 adaptation of Deep Water (Ben Affleck as a muted-but-murderous cuckold with a collection of snails = Good Film. Do not @ me), we truly are in the midst of a Highsmithassaince, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

The Murderous Miss Highsmith is being produced by Carol and Past Lives outfit Killer Films, and will begin filming in Italy this fall.