Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh are set to star in the film adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s short story, Stone Mattress. One of the buzziest titles at the Cannes Film Market, Stone Mattress, is billed as a “blue-chip revenge thriller,” set on a cruise ship in the chilly Arctic Northwest Passage. Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) will direct Stone Mattress from a screenplay she co-wrote with Tom Townend.
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The plot synopsis for the film (via Deadline) reads:
“Stone Mattress follows Verna (Moore), a 60-year-old retired physiotherapist and twice a widow, who embarks on a luxurious cruise into the magnificent and silently thawing Arctic Northwest Passage, populated by a crowd of privileged influencers and wealthy retirees. On the ship, Verna meets the friendly and charming Grace (Oh), and the seemingly ordinary Bob, an unaccompanied man in his mid-sixties who inherited a family business. Although he doesn’t have a fraction of Verna’s elegance and wit, Bob tries to seduce her. But he might not be the foolish yet harmless man he initially appears to be, and his presence troubles Verna. As wounds and humiliations from her past resurface, the smooth atmosphere of the cruise will be disturbed by a shocking act.”
Stone Mattress marks the second collaboration between Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh after 2008’s Blindness, and with a filmmaker like Lynne Ramsay at the helm, the film has “instant classic” written all over it. Moore was last featured in Dear Evan Hansen and will next appear in Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut When You Finish Saving the World. As for Sandra Oh, she recently finished her long-running spy series Killing Eve on BBC and is currently appearing in the Sam Raimi-produced horror film Umma.
Lynne Ramsay Says Stone Mattress Will Deal With Timely Themes Like Women’s Rights and Sexual Abuse
Stone Mattress is based on the eponymous short story published by Margaret Atwood in The New Yorker in 2011. Atwood is one of the greatest living writers and is best known for her socially conscious works like The Handmaid’s Tale, which explore women-centric themes. Director Lynne Ramsay, a lifelong admirer of Atwood, aims to do justice to the author’s source material and the many themes Stone Mattress touches upon.
Ramsay also mentioned that Stone Mattress is all the more important in the current climate as women’s rights are under attack. The film will also tackle global warming and its effect on the Arctic.
“I was immediately gripped by the way it [Stone Mattress] framed the deeply buried trauma of a post-menopausal woman – an age group we hear from all too rarely – through the dynamic and multifaceted character of Verna. From its tongue-in-cheek humor to its moments of icy vengeance and delicate portrayal of an emotional repression specific to the boomer generation, it is a story I’ve wanted to materialize on-screen since my first reading.”
Stone Mattress is expected to commence filming this September in Greenland and Iceland. There is currently no word on the film’s release date.
“With the current repeal in women’s rights across the world, particularly regarding the overturning of Roe v Wade in America, this story, with its themes of stolen motherhood and unaccounted sexual abuse, feels more important than ever. The opportunity to shoot in the Arctic, on the frontline of the most urgent threat to our world and on the verge of irredeemable transformation, will lend the story another layer of devastation. Just like the icecaps that melt to reveal ancient histories, Stone Mattress sees years of Verna’s pain and fury thaw before our eyes to expose the raw emotion underneath.”
