Apple Studios has won the rights to “Dolly,” a new feature film with Academy Award-nominee Florence (“Little Women,” “Midsommar,” “Black Widow”) Pugh attached to star with Vanessa Taylor and Drew Pearce Penning the script, reports Deadline.
The film is a sci-fi courtroom drama in which a robotic “companion doll” kills its owner and then shocks the world by claiming that she is not guilty and asking for a lawyer. The film, which is inspired by Elizabeth Bear’s short story of the same name, has elements of both classic courtroom drama and sci-fi, according to Deadline.
Apple Studios is attached to produce with Pearce also producing through Point of No Return Films, and Pugh and Taylor will executive produce. Ian Fisher executive produces through Point of No Return Films.
In other Apple TV+ news, Claire (“Homeland”) Danes, will star in the upcoming series “Essex Serpent,” reports Variety. She takes over the role from Keira Knightley, who departed the project in October 2020 for family reasons.
The period drama follows newly widowed Cora, played by Danes, who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area. No word on when it will debut.
Finally, on its YouTube channel, Apple has shared a “first look featurette” video highlighting the second season of “For All Mankind,” which will premiere on Friday, February 19.
