Biopic of legendary silent actress adds two.
Michael Pitt (‘Boardwalk Empire,’ ‘Funny Games’) has closed a deal to join Lily Rabe (‘American Horror Story’) on the cast of ‘The First,’ director Jennifer DeLia’s upcoming biopic of Hollywood legend Mary Pickford.
The script by Josh Fagin was adapted from Eileen Whitfield’s biography ‘Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood’ and follows Pickford’s rise from silent film actress to her powerhouse status in a male-dominated fledgling business.
Along with her husband, legendary actor Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and filmmaker D. W. Griffith, Pickford formed United Artists studios as their own stomping grounds where they could be bosses instead of employees.
Pitt will be taking the role of Pickford’s first husband, Irish-born actor Owen Moore. The couple had a troubled marriage, blighted by Owen’s alcoholism and insecurities about living in Pickford’s shadow.
Deadline also adds that Ryan Simpkins (‘Twixt,’ ‘A Single Man’) is on board to portray Pickford at a young age.