The Crown's Olivia Colman teams up with Normal People writer for new film

Two of the forces behind our favourite hit shows are teaming up for a new film.

The Crown’s (opens in new tab) Olivia Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth II in the third series of the hit Netflix drama, will be appearing in a new movie written by one of the writers of none other than BBC’s recent hit adaptation Normal People (opens in new tab).

Screenwriter Alice Birch, who contributed to the Sally Rooney TV adaptation, will be penning the new period drama, which will star Oscar-winning Olivia alongside renowned actor Colin Firth.

Speaking about the new film Mothering Sunday, director Eva Husson told Deadline, “It truly felt like the planets aligned when this wonderful screenplay, Mothering Sunday somehow found its way to me.”

“Alice Birch seemed to whisper in my ear,” she said of the screenwriter, “and I felt everything I’d done so far prepared me for this specific story.

“It was a culmination of all that I am obsessed with in life: writing, sensuality, and pure cinema. And I finished the script in tears, not from sadness, but because it cracked me open, like the most honest works do.”

Based on Graham Swift’s popular eponymous novel, the film follows protagonist Jane Fairchild, a, orphaned maid who has worked at a family’s estate since she was a teenager.

Throughout the time that Jane has lived with the family, she had had a secret relationship with lover of Paul Sheringham from the neighbouring estate.

Set after World War One, the film sees Jane and Paul come together for last time on oddly warm Mothering Sunday, when there is a sense of foreboding in the air.

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Speaking about the exciting new project, producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley said, “The combination of the Alice Birch screenplay Eva’s direction and the incredible source material of Graham Swift’s novel, and this amazing cast make the prospect of Mothering Sunday a producers dream!”

We definitely can’t wait to watch this!