Thanks to a wealth of impressive performances, there are many stars deserving the title of Breakout Actor of Summer 2015... but one name in particular that would get a lot of votes is Rebecca Ferguson. After many years spent on the small screen, she more than held her own with Tom Cruise in Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, and is now on the verge of superstardom. What will certainly help her profile grow is signing on to new and exciting projects, and that's exactly what she's doing by entering negotiations for the new thriller The Girl on the Train.
According to Deadline, the Swedish actress is now in talks to sign a deal that will see her starring alongside Emily Blunt in the Tate Taylor-directed thriller. Based on the novel of the same name by author Paula Hawkins, the project is expected to have three key female roles, and now it seems that two of them have been filled.
Emily Blunt will star as the central protagonist of the story, and the titular girl on the train. She plays a recent divorcee who finds herself fantasizing about a seemingly perfect couple that she sees on her train ride every day to work. Things turn dark, however, when she believes that she see something shocking happen in the house, and she winds up "entangled in the mystery that unfolds." Sadly, the trade report doesn't mention the role that Rebecca Ferguson will be playing in the thriller. The tone of the movie is being likened to Gone Girl, though it's pretty obvious that there is some inspiration from Rear Window in the plot as well.
In addition to the fact that The Girl On The Train is really starting to build an awesome cast, an interesting part of this news is that it's actually affecting one of the biggest casting races in town. About two weeks ago Rebecca Ferguson was shortlisted for the female lead in the new Gambit movie opposite Spectre's Lea Seydoux, and Mad Max: Fury Road's Abbey Lee. Ferguson is apparently now bowing out of that competition, so it seems that is now a two horse race. We will presumably be hearing the results in the next couple of weeks.
Ferguson will surely start getting a lot more high profile opportunities after the success of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, but her next two features are small ones. First up is writer/director Shamim Sarif's period romantic thriller Despite The Falling Snow, which was filmed in Serbia and doesn't have a release date yet. She has also completed work on Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, which also doesn't have a release date, but features Meryl Streep in the titular role and has Hugh Grant in a supporting role.
It's not entirely clear when The Girl On The Train is going into production, and no release date has been announced, but we'll keep you updated with details as they become available.
