THE BELL JAR: Carey Mulligan Comes On Board a Much Anticipated Literary Adaptation

The Bell Jar Casts Oscar-Nominated Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan has joined the cast of Focus Features’ book-to-film adaptation of Sylvia Plath‘s The Bell Jar, a film that is already generating potential Oscar buzz.

Carey Mulligan should have won the Best Actress Oscar for her work in 2020’s masterpiece, Promising Young Woman. Truth be told, Mulligan is one of the most exciting actresses in Hollywood today so it comes as very intriguing news that she will be assuming the high-profile role of Mrs. Greenwood in the Sylvia Plath book-to-film adaptation of the formidable story, The Bell Jar.

If you doubt The Bell Jar‘s true Oscar potential, just look at the ingredients of the film other than the recently announced casting of the always superb Mulligan. Sarah Polley (Oscar-winning screenwriter of Women Talking) is penning the adaptation of The Bell Jar and directing it as well. Billie Eilish has been cast in the leading role of Esther Greenwood, a part that any actress would kill for – an emotional and volatile role that will thrust the actress into stardom if the story plays as well on the screen as it plays on the page.

While Mulligan has been generating acclaim for her work on Beef these days, she’s also one of our most consistently overlooked actresses where awards are concerned, unfairly losing the Best Actress Oscar yet again for her heart wrenching work in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro just a few years ago. With The Bell Jar, it seems Mulligan may just have her chance to grasp that unattainable Oscar she’s been so deserving of. She was also quite deserving of an Oscar win for 2009’s An Education as well.

The Bell Jar is a dramatic, devastating and powerful story of heart wrenching proportions that should propel Eilish to potential Oscar glory as well. It seems almost impossible to think Eilish and Mulligan would not get Oscar nominations if this film is as emotionally resonant as its source material. Focus Features has had tremendous success as a studio with their hit, Obsession, and it will be nice to see them release a prestige project like this Plath adaptation that English majors like myself have been waiting many years to see.

Sarah Polley is a veteran film director who never falters in her ambitions and her sincerity and it seems like she could well receive another Oscar nomination for her writing and, hopefully, her direction will not go unrewarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences if she gets the performances from Eilish and Mulligan every one knows she’s capable of getting from these stellar talents. Mulligan is also known by art house audiences for her provocative role in the terrific dramatic film, Shame, from about a decade and a half ago.

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