Amy Berg's background in film is largely in documentary work, with the Oscar nominated Deliver Us from Evil and BAFTA nominated West of Memphis among her credits. Following those critically acclaimed documentaries from past years, Berg is about to embark on her narrative helming debut with Every Secret Thing, a film about two 11-year-olds imprisoned for killing a baby. It was announced today that Dakota Fanning and Danielle Macdonald are set to play the two girls, seven years after their conviction.
The announcement was made by Likely Story, Merced Media Partners, Palmstar Media, Capital and Hyde Park International, stating that Fanning and Macdonald are joining Diane Lane and Elizabeth Banks in the film. The story follows Fanning and Macdonald's characters after they're released from prison at eighteen years old, seven years after being convicted of the murder of a baby.
Upon their release, children start to go missing; as the police turn their attention to the duo, the mystery surrounding the original murder comes back to light.Fanning and Macdonald will play the 18-year old girls, and Lane will play the mother of one of the girls, portraying a woman who has long known that her daughter is a gifted liar. Banks plays the lead police officer who finds herself emotionally involved in the case.
Berg is no stranger to exploring dark subjects, when considering the two documentaries she wrote and directed, one of which focuses on a priest who was repeatedly relocated to different parishes due to sexual abuse incidents (Deliver Us from Evil) and the more recent one, which focuses on the investigation of the murder of three children, which led to the conviction of three teens known as the West Memphis Three (West of Memphis). It'll be interesting to see how she does with this story, which is based on a script by Nicole Holofcener, adapted from Laura Lippman's 2004 novel.
And it certainly sounds like a potentially dark but intriguing role for Dakota Fanning, whose recent films include The Twilight Saga, Ol Parker's drama Now is Good and the 2010 film The Runaways. Danielle Macdonald is an Australian actress, whose recent credits include a TV show called The Valley and an episode of Glee in 2011. With Fanning and Macdonald joining a cast that already includes the talented Diane Lane and Elizabeth Banks, the cast is definitely coming together nicely.
The film begins principal photography March 25 in New York.
