Woody Harrelson, Oliva Colman and Chlöe Bailey to star in Bob Dylan inspired musical, ‘Girl From the North Country’
Chlöe Bailey, Olivia Colman and Woody Harrelson will lead the cast of Girl From the North Country, the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name and featuring songs from by the great Bob Dylan.
Playwright Conor McPherson will also have writing and directing credits for the movie, which features Dylan’s expansive discography. The songs ‘Forever Young’, ‘All Along the Watchtower’, and ‘Like a Rolling Stone‘ will appear in the Depression-era story focusing on a group of Midwesterners who cross paths at pivotal moments.
Due to its post-Covid run, the musical struggled to make consistent and adequate ticket sales and eventually closed after a month-long life on Broadway.
Blueprint Pictures will produce Girl From the North Country, and company executives Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin have been recruited as producers. The film will be represented in domestic sales by CAA Media Finance and Rocket Science, which will be behind international sales at the Berlin Film Festival.
Based in 1934 in Duluth during the Great Depression, Girl From the North Country focuses on a group of wayward travellers as their lives intersect in a guesthouse. Things are spiralling out of control for proprietor Nick Laine played by Harrelson, whose wife Elizabeth, played by Colman, suffers from dementia. The bank is foreclosing on their home, and their adopted daughter Marianne, played by Bailey, has a secret that no one can explain.
But when an escaped convict Joe Scott, played by Tosin Cole, seeks shelter at the guesthouse, a relationship develops between Marianne and Joe that will change everything for everyone forever.
Dylan himself gave McPherson’s project the seal of approval: “Having Bob Dylan’s trust to create a story using his incomparable songs is a huge privilege which has brought nothing but joy to my world,” McPherson shared in an official statement given by Indiewire. “But working with this incredible cast to bring these characters to life is almost beyond imagining.”
He added: “I’m also especially thrilled to be working with Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and the whole Blueprint team who have given cinema audiences some of the greatest movies of recent times.”
Oscar-winning actor Colman, known for her work in Fleabag and The Crown, will star alongside Bailey, who is one half of the musical duo Chloe x Halle. The singer also has acting credits on ABC’s sitcom Grown-ish and Black-ish. Meanwhile, Harrelson recently appeared in Ruben Östlund academy-award nominated satirical comedy Triangle of Sadness and is a three-time Oscar-nominated actor.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.