StudioCanal and Amazon Studios have announced that Sam Riley (Maleficent), Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) and Simon Russell Beale (The Death of Stalin) have joined Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) in the cast of Radioactive, the new film from Oscar-nominated director Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, The Voices).
Radioactive tells the incredible, true story of Marie Curie (Pike) and her ground-breaking scientific achievements. In Paris, 1893, Marie meets fellow scientist Pierre Curie (Riley). The pair go on to marry, raise two daughters and change the face of science forever by jointly winning the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium in 1903. Marie Curie was the first
female scientist to win the esteemed prize.
After the death of her beloved Pierre, Marie continues her research and invites scandal when she has an affair with another prominent scientist, Paul Langevin (Barnard). However, it is Marie’s commitment to science which prevails, and the responsibility that comes with discoveries that quite literally change the world. Intercut between past and various sections of the present, we see how their science shaped both modern medicine and the advent of nuclear power and weapons.
Anya Taylor Joy will star as Marie Curie’s daughter, Irene, with Simon Russell Beale starring as Professor Lippmann, a professor at the Université de Paris, Faculté des Sciences, with whom Marie Curie comes into conflict.
Filming on Radioactive is underway now, with Satrapi directing from a script by Jack Thorne (Wonder), based on Laura Redniss’ graphic novel Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout.