Penelope Cruz will star as Olga, a writer who is forced to abandon her professional ambitions when her husband suddenly abandons her and their two young daughters, in the English-language adaptation of the Italian author’s novel Elena Ferrante, “Days of Abandonment”on the big screen, by the Spanish director Isabel Coixet.

The deal for the film, which is in the early stages of production, was signed before the Hollywood actors’ strike. Although Cruz did not attend this year’s Venice Film Festival, she nevertheless received rave reviews for her performance in the film “Ferrari” by Michael Mann as the angry, lonely and grief-stricken Laura Ferrari, emotionally estranged from her husband Enzo (Adam Driver).

Check out this Instagram post.

The post was shared by Penélope Cruz (@penelopecruzoficial)

The “Days of Abandonment” they will not take place in Italy – as was the case in Ferrante’s novel – but in America. It is the first reunion of the two leading Spanish female artists since 2008 and the – also in an American “background” – drama, entitled “Elegy of Love”, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel, “The Dying Animal”, about the relationship of a professor (Ben Kingsley) with his student, played by Cruz.

Ferrante’s best-seller, published in Greek by Patakis, chronicles 38-year-old Olga’s descent into chaotic and devastating futility when her husband of 15 years leaves her for another woman. Trapped within the four walls of their high-rise apartment in Turin, with full responsibility for their two daughters, Olga loses control of herself and fears that she will fall apart.

The actors of the film

The film is produced by the Italian company Lotus production, a member of the Leone Film Group of Raffaella and Andrea Leone, Penélope Cruz herself with her production company Moonlyon, created in collaboration with Laura Fernández Espeso, her brother Edu Cruz and Marco Perego via Nimoa Entertainment.

Isabel Coixet, whose films often explore the inner lives of women, is known for award-winning work such as Life Without Me and The Secret Life of Words, both co-starring Sarah Polley, as well as the drama film “Mrs. Green’s Bookstore” with Emily Mortimer; He will soon be at the San Sebastian Film Festival with the Spanish-language drama “Un Amor,” a story of emotional dependency set in the Spanish countryside.

The script will be written by French screenwriter Laurence Coriat, known for her collaboration with Michael Winterbottom in the film “Wonderland” (1999), for “Genova” with Colin Firth and “Everyday” about the British prison system .

Coriat also wrote the script for the British television series McMafia, a sweeping look at global organized crime, inspired by journalist Misha Glenny’s book.

Read more at monopoli.gr