Update: Sony Pictures Classics has reached out to note there was a misprint in their CinemaCon statement and Anya Taylor-Joy is not attached to the film.
Following up a pair of English-language short films, Pedro Almodóvar has now embarked on shooting his English-language feature debut, The Room Next Door. Starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, and Alessandro Nivola, a new cast member has been added to the ensemble.
The Queen’s Gambit fan Almodóvar has cast Anya Taylor-Joy in the film, as confirmed by a cast listing in the Sony Pictures Classics section of the CinemaCon program guide. While her role hasn’t been specified, early reports indicated she could play Swinton’s daughter.
“The Room Next Door is about a very imperfect mother and her resentful daughter, who live separate lives because of a profound misunderstanding. Ingrid (played by Julianne Moore), a friend of the mother, will become the custodian to mother and daughter’s pain and bitterness. Martha, the mother (played by Tilda Swinton), is a war correspondent and Ingrid is an auto fiction novelist,” the director said.
He added, “The film talks about the unlimited cruelty of wars, the two different ways these two writers have of approaching and writing about reality, also about death, and how friendship and sexual pleasure can be the best allies to deal with horror. It also talks about the pleasure of waking up to birds bringing a new day at a house built on a natural reserve in New England, where the two friends live an extraordinary and awkwardly sweet situation.”
Check out recent photos from the set below, including a visit from Dua Lipa, who has expressed interest in being an “Almodóvar girl” one day. Meanwhile, Taylor-Joy can currently be (briefly) seen in the biggest blockbuster in theaters, Dune Part Two, and then one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer, Furiosa.