Kirsten Dunst to Direct Indie Drama ‘The Bell Jar’ Starring Dakota Fanning

20 July 2016 1:12 PM, PDT | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »

Kirsten Dunst is set to make her feature film directorial debut with an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar.” Dakota Fanning will star in the independent drama with plans for a first-quarter start of production.

Fanning will play the lead role of Esther Greenwood in the pic, based on Plath’s 1963 novel. Dunst has adapted the script with Nellie Kim.

Priority Pictures optioned remake rights from Studio Canal. “The Bell Jar” was made into a feature film in 1979.

Priority’s Lizzie Friedman, Karen Lauder and Greg Little will produce alongside Fanning and Echo Lake Entertainment’s Brittany Kahan. Celine Rattray is executive producing.

In the book, Greenwood takes an internship at a magazine in New York City, and then begins to suffer a mental breakdown when she returns home to Boston.

The novel is the only book ever published by Plath, who committed suicide in 1963.

Dunst directed a pair of short films — “Welcome, »

- Dave McNary

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