Florence Pugh, rising star of Hollywood, has been chosen to play the main role of the series East of Eden, the adaptation for Netflix of the novel by John Steinbeck.
Netflix has just won a great battle over a series project that channels and platforms were fighting for, reports us Deadline. This is East of Eden, adaptation of the famous novel by John Steinbeck, East of Eden. Zoe Kazan is the creator and producer. And it is Florence Pugh who will be the star.
East of Eden has already been adapted into a feature film, in 1955, with James Dean in his first major role. The actor was sublimated by the camera of Elia Kazan – Zoe’s grandfather – who directed the film. It is a real challenge for Zoe Kazan to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather with this film considered a masterpiece, and itself considered a legend of cinema.
But the young woman has already proven herself in 2018 by co-signing the screenplay for the film Wildlife with Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal. A film directed by his partner in the city, Paul Dano.
A mini-series
Deadline announces that this adaptation will be a mini-series and that it “explore themes of trauma and repair; of love and betrayal; duty and free will.“Biblical-inspired themes assumed by the author. Florence Pugh will play the role of the cruel and manipulative Cathy Ames, the main antagonist of Steinbeck’s book.
She is the wife of Adam Trask, one of the protagonists, and is therefore intimately connected with the Trasks and the Hamiltons, two families from the Salinas Valley, California, whose histories are intertwined.
“I fell in love with East of Eden when I first read it as a teenager. Ever since then, adapting Steinbeck’s novel — big, sprawling, and in its entirety across three generations — has been my dream. More than anything, I wanted to give full expression to the astonishing and singular anti-heroine of the novel, Cathy Ames“, Zoe Kazan said in a statement.
“Florence Pugh is our ideal Cathy. I can’t imagine a more exciting actress to bring this character to life.“The actress is indeed among the busiest actors at the moment. Her next project is Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry, Darling. sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and in her various forays into the MCU as Yelena, Black Widow’s little sister.