Update: Mulligan will indeed play his sister, Sissy. This means the co-worker role (named Marianne?) is left to cast.
More casting news regarding Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated sophomore feature Shame has been reported and fans of the BAFTA-winning director couldn’t be more excited. In September, it was announced McQueen is reteaming with his Hunger star Michael Fassbender, and now IrishCentral (via The Playlist) has revealed Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan will co-star as well. Also added to the mix is HBO’s The Pacific actor James Badge Dale. Shooting is set for January in NYC, which means Shame should be ready for the fall festival circuit and screen at TIFF and Venice. Iain Canning (The King’s Speech), who served as an exec producer on Hunger, will produce the sex-capade through his See Saw Films banner.
Gist: The script itself, which McQueen penned with Abi Morgan (Brick Lane), has already drawn much attention at the AFM and, similar to Hunger, features a tough, rather dark storyline. Fassbender will play Brandon, a Manhattan office worker with a complicated sex addiction who begins a relationship with Marianne, a co-worker. When Sissy, Brandon’s troubled blues-singing sister comes to stay for a few days, Brandon’s life begins to spin out of control. As mentioned by ThePlaylist, Mulligan could play either the sister or co-worker, while Badge Dale will likely play Brandon’s boss.
Worth Noting: No doubt Fassbender can carry a powerful leading-role. Those interested in seeing whether he can pull off a character study surrounding sexual addiction should check out Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, where he played a complex, yet amoral, mentor to a younger girl.
Do We Care?: We sure do. Hunger launched McQueen’s filmmaking career (he was an already established artist) and sparked one of the longest standing O’s in it’s Un Certain Regard section Cannes debut. Shame is already one of the most anticipated films of 2011 and the duo Fassbender and Mulligan, both some of the most highly acclaimed actors of recent years, will allow for another strong, powerful story for McQueen.