Jennifer Kent, the Aussie actress-turned-filmmaker known for her debut feature ‘The Babadook,’ has closed a deal to take the director’s chair for an adaptation of Alexis Coe’s non-fiction book ‘Alice + Freda Forever.’
Published in 2014, the book recounts the real-life tragic, romantic relationship between two young girls in 1892 Memphis, Tennessee that incited a sensational murder and electrified the nation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell had planned to pass as a man in order to marry her seventeen-year-old fiancée Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden from ever speaking again. Ward adjusted to this with apparent ease, and that left Mitchell heartbroken. The result was fatal, jealous rage.
Kent will direct from her own screenplay with Sidney Kimmel producing alongside Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter.
“Jennifer Kent was my first choice from the moment I read Coe’s exceptional book,” said producer Sarah Schechter. “Jennifer’s debut film was one of the most accomplished I have ever seen and I’m thrilled she shares the same passion for telling this powerful, intense and unfortunately still timely story. We are thrilled to have Sidney Kimmel Entertainment as our partners.”