Kirsten Dunst To Direct Syliva Plath’s The Bell Jar Starring Dakota Fanning

Los Angeles: German-American actor Kirsten Dunst is set make her feature film directorial debut with The Bell Jar, an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s famed 1963 novel. American model Dakota Fanning has been set to play the lead role of Esther Greenwood in the picture, which Dunst has co-written with Nellie Kim. The Stanford Prison Experiment producer Priority Pictures optioned remake rights from Studio Canal, and production is eyed to start in first-quarter 2017.

The Bell Jar is set in the 1950s and follows Greenwood, who takes an internship at a magazine in New York City and, after she returns home to Boston, begins to suffer from mental illness. A 1979 movie adaptation of the book was directed by Larry Peerce and starred Marilyn Hassett.

The novel was originally published under the pseudonym ‘Victoria Lucas’ in 1963, the novel is semi-autobiographical, with the names of places and people changed. Plath died by suicide a month after its first UK publication at the age of 30. The novel was published under Plath's name for the first time in 1967 and was not published in the United States until 1971, in accordance with the wishes of both Plath;s husband, Ted Hughes , and her mother.

Dunst, 34, just nominated for an Emmy for her work on FX’s Fargo, has directed a pair of short films —Welcome starring Winona Ryder and John Hawkes, which was screened at Sundance; and Bastard starring Brian Geraghty and Lukas Haas which screened at Tribeca and Cannes. Her recent film credits include Jeff Nichols’Midnight Special and she’s next up in Woodstock and Ted Melfi’s Hidden Figures. Dunst is repped by UTA and Management 360.

Fanning, 22, whose recent credits include The Secret Life Of Bees and The Runaways, is next up in Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut American Pastoral. She’s repped by CAA and Echo Lake.