It’s being reported by The Daily Mail (via ThePlaylist) that Rachel Weisz has now been cast alongside Oscar winner Colin Firth in the post-World War II drama The Railway Man, an adaptation of Eric Lomax‘s influential novel of the same name.
That original text saw Lomax detail his experiences before, during, and after he was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942 when serving as a second lieutenant. Firth will be playing the lead, who was crucial in the building of the structure David Lean made legendary in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Weisz, meanwhile, has the part of Patricia Wallace, Lomax’s wife who helped him overcome his trauma. Burning Man helmer Jonathan Teplitzky will direct the picture, with War Horse‘s Jeremy Irvine also set to play the lead, during his time in the camp.
I’m actually surprised it’s taken this long for Weisz and Firth to star in a film together, considering both their mutual country of origin and similar taste in projects. I do, however, think it’s appropriate that their unity would end up being a very dramatic, war-driven film such as Railway. I also happen to believe that the two of them will play off each other beautifully, if Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson‘s script allows them to.
Both actors are currently wrapping pretty different projects; Firth has the Coen brothers‘-scripted Gambit and Arthur Newman, Golf Pro both coming in 2012, while Weisz has the untitled Terrence Malick project, the latest Bourne movie, and Sam Raimi‘s Oz: The Great and Powerful coming in 2012 and 2013. As of now, The Railway Man is slated for a 2013 release.
What do you think about Firth and Weisz joining forces for The Railway Man?