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Rooney Mara And Casey Affleck Feature In Low-Budget, Narrative-Lacking Indie Film ‘A Ghost Story’

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:01 PST, Jan 31, 2017

Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, who are both Academy Award nominees and highly regarded professionals, have teamed up with director David Lowery to feature in A Ghost Story, a strange, low-budget indie film that, according to Variety, takes place in a single house and involves a ghost (Affleck) dressed in a bed sheet.

The movie follows the story of a young unnamed couple, played by Rooney Mara and Affleck, who suffer a tragedy when Affleck’s character dies in a car accident outside their home. But rather than passing on, Affleck’s now-deceased character dons a bedsheet and stays behind to watch over his former partner, played by Rooney Mara.

There is little surprise that reactions to this film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, have been mixed and somewhat confused, with one film critic from Variety noting that the movie is more of an observation than a narrative.

“The ‘story’ advertised by the film’s title proves… elusive.”

While reactions to A Ghost Story have been mixed, Rooney Mara earned plenty of appreciation from fans and critics alike when her other recent films Lion, The Secret Scripture, and Una premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Una was also shown at the Telluride Film Festival, and Screen Daily reports that Una has been so well-received that a number of distribution companies have come forward to distribute the movie in various theaters across the globe.

Una is based on Blackbird, a play written by David Harrower, and it narrates the story of an adult woman’s attachment to a sex offender who sexually abused her when she was still a minor. Rooney Mara plays the lead role of the psychologically tormented woman who refuses to let go of the painful memories of the past.

In addition to Una, directed by Benedict Andrews, Rooney Mara will be a regular on the silver screen in 2017 and 2018, with upcoming films The Discovery, Mary Magdalene, and Weightless due to be released this year, while Vox Lux and Annette will be released in 2018.

Rooney Mara is set to play the lead role in Annette, the musical film that will be directed by French director Leos Carax. According to the A.V. Club, media reports regarding Annette reveal that the movie is expected to have elements of tragedy in its plot.

“The tragic story of a stand-up comedian whose opera singer wife is deceased. He finds himself alone with his two-year-old daughter who has a surprising gift.”

Variety reports that Annette is a passionate tale of love between two people whose romance ends tragically.

Rooney Mara will be working under Leox Carax, whose unique direction in French-German film Holy Motors was critically acclaimed. In addition, pop duo Sparks is set to provide some of the music for the film, with Rihanna reportedly scoring a minor role. The film’s budget is $15.5 million, and it will be primarily produced by Bruno Pesery’s Arena Films. Other production companies from Switzerland, Japan, and Belgium are also working on the film that will be filmed in multiple locations around the world.

Rooney Mara’s considerable talent will not go unnoticed in the next few years due to the sheer number of upcoming films that will be featuring the Carol actress, and there is every chance that she might be up for an Academy Award for her upcoming performances. Earlier, Rooney Mara was nominated for an Academy Award for her roles in Carol and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but her nominations were marred by the controversy surrounding the lack of diversity in Hollywood films.

Rooney Mara’s casting as Tiger Lily in the 2015 movie Pan was criticized because Tiger Lily was a Native American princess, and Rooney is not a Native American.

The controversy resurfaced during the 2016 Academy Awards ceremony when a number of celebrities refused to attend the event as a protest against the lack of diversity throughout Hollywood as a whole in the preceding years. Even though she has empathized with the protesters, Rooney Mara further drew criticism by seeming reluctant to comment on issues surrounding her casting.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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