Jennifer Lawrence to Star in Luca Guadagnino’s

Luca Guadagnino, currently drumming up Oscar buzz for the ravishing “Call Me by Your Name,” will direct Jennifer Lawrence in “Burial Rites,” Variety has learned. Lawrence will produce, as well as star in the true-crime drama. TriStar Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures, has worldwide rights to the picture.



The film draws on Hannah Kent’s 2013 novel of the same name, and centers on Agnes Magnusdottir (Lawrence), the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland in 1830. Agnes was sentenced to death for killing two men and setting fire to their home. The story takes place as Agnes awaits confirmation of her death sentence by the high court, a period of time that finds her reluctantly forging emotional and romantic bonds, while reflecting on her supposed crimes.