Josh Charles and Anders Danielsen Lie have joined the cast of the psychological thriller Mother's Instinct starring Academy Award-winners Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, Deadline reports. The four-round out what we know of the film's cast so far for the not-so-idyllic early '60s housewives tale.
The story follows two housewives, Alice (Chastain) and Celine (Hathaway), who both seemingly lead the quintessential dream life. They each have successful husbands, healthy young sons, and live in two mirrored suburban homes with neat lawns. The couples spend all of their time together and the boys were practically raised as brothers. It's inevitable that the two women would become fast friends. However, when tragedy befalls one of the copy-paste families, the perfectly tended harmony starts to crack. Grief, guilt, paranoia, and secret suspicions threaten to turn their worlds upside down. The story explores the depths of a mother's love and the darkness of revenge.
Collider first reported on the film in October 2020, with Charles and Danielsen Lie joining the cast we can assume that the pair will play opposite Hathaway and Chastain as their husbands. Charles is best known for his roles as Will Gardner on CBS's legal drama The Good Wife, which earned him two Emmy Award nominations, most recently as Daniel Hersl in the HBO miniseries We Own This City, and for his early work as Knox Overstreet in Dead Poets Society. Danielson Lie is best known for his recent role as Aksel in the Oscar-nominated romance The Worst Person in the World, as Erwin alongside Kristen Stewart in the 2016 thriller Personal Shopper and for his leading role in Oslo, August 31st.
Based on the novel Derrière La Haine by Barbara Abel, Mother's Instinct is the English-language remake of Belgian director Olivier Masset-Depasse's 2018 thriller, Duelles. Originally Masset-Depasse was set to direct the remake, as well, but has since had to relinquish the film due to personal conflicts. In his place, French cinematographer Benoît Delhomme will resume directing, though Masset-Depasse will stay on to executive produce. Delhomme worked as director of photography for the Oscar-winning biopic The Theory of Everything starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. The script for Mother's Instinct is adapted from the novel and written by Sarah Conradt-Kroehler. Sébastien Raybaud (The Night House) is set to executive direct with Masset-Depasse. Producers are Chastain and Kelly Carmichael of Freckle Films, Jacques-Henri Bronckart, and Paul Nelson.
Mother's Instinct began principal photography in June. There is no release date for the film, but you can read the synopsis below:
Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life's perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.