Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (‘Brooklyn,’ ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’) has signed on to take the lead in in ‘Sweetness in the Belly,’ based on the bestselling novel by Camilla Gibb.
Per Deadline, the immigrant romance drama sees Ronan playing Lilly Abdal, “a woman caught between two places: one of her birth parents and the other, where she was adopted, raised and fell in love. Orphaned in Africa as a child, Lilly’s first experience of her parents’ homeland of England is as a refugee, escaping civil war.
As lost in this cold new world as her fellow immigrants, Lilly becomes the heart of this disenfranchised community in London, attempting to reunite people with their scattered families. But as her friend Amina discovers, Lilly’s mission isn’t purely altruistic and a passionate lost love affair is revealed between Lilly and Aziz, an idealistic doctor.”
‘Sweetness in the Belly’ will kick off filming in September, with Irish producers Alan Moloney and Susan Mullen of Parallel Films producing. Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny over at Sienna Films will co-produce. Zeresenay “Zee” Berhane Mehari is attached to direct.