Carla Gugino has quite an acting resume, but her biggest challenge to date is to be ahead of her.
Variety reports the actress has signed on to play Gone With the Wind actor Vivien Leigh in the upcoming biopic, The Florist.
The upcoming prestige film will explore Leigh’s struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1960s as she prepares to lead the Broadway production of John Gielgud’s Chekhov adaptation of Ivanov. The outlet adds, “Gugino’s Leigh collides with Joseph Penn — a WWII veteran and blue-collar florist who encounters Leigh on a delivery. At the same time, the star attends a local psychiatric facility for electroconvulsive therapy.”
The official synopsis said, “Leigh and Penn become each other’s sources of truth, beauty, and love.”
In a statement to Variety, Gugino gushes about her role in The Florist, “I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew The Florist was a journey I had to pursue.
“What drew me to the project was the script and how it brings together, for a fleeting moment, two human beings who seemingly couldn’t be more different,” said director Sandow. “I was excited by taking these two discordant existences and making them touch and seeing what that says about things like love, artistry, mental illness, and celebrity.”
Production is set to begin at the end of the summer.
