Chloe Sevigny will star in a still-to-be-named film about accused killer Lizzie Borden.
Sevigny is set to play Lizzie Borden, and the psychological thriller is to chronicle the events leading up to the famous New England murders, according to the Hollywood Reporter .
Also cast in the flick is Kristen Stewart, who will portray Bridget Sullivan, the Borden’s live-in maid, who was in the home at the time of the murders.
Lizzie Borden lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, along with her older sister Emma, her father Andrew, and step-mother Abby. Lizzie and Emma’s mother, Sarah, died when they were very young, and their father soon remarried.
The girls were never close to their step-mother, and their father was controlling and a penny-pincher, despite them being one of the more wealthy families in Fall River.
Andrew Borden owned rental properties and both Lizzie Bordon and her sister Emma helped to manage them. Both sisters were in their 30s at the time of the murders, and were considered spinsters.
On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden reported finding her father’s dead body to their maid Bridget Sullivan. Police were contacted, and a search of the home resulted in the discovery of a deceased Abby Borden as well.
Both Andrew Borden and Abby Borden died from hatchet wounds to the head. Abby was struck 19 times, and Andrew took 10 or 11 blows to the head. It was determined that Andrew Borden had been sleeping when he was murdered, and his face was the focus of the attack, essentially destroying it.
Lizzie Borden was an immediate suspect, as her father’s fortune was a possible motive for the murders, and Emma Borden was out of town at the time. The absence of material evidence tying Lizzie to the crime ultimately resulted in an acquittal, but she was convicted in the court of public opinion, and her legend lives on today.
Rumors swirled regarding the nature of Sevigny and Stewart’s characters following the murders, with some suggesting that Lizzie Borden and Sullivan may have been lovers . There was also much speculation, that because there may have been an intimate relationship between Borden and Sullivan, and that Sullivan may have tailored her testimony at trial to favor Lizzie Borden, but neither the relationship nor the altered testimony have ever been confirmed.
The film is not Chloe Sevigny’s first project on the subject of Lizzie Borden, according to Screen Rant . She was set to play the hatchet-wielding killer from Fall River in an HBO series tied to Tom Hanks, but it never came to fruition.
Sevigny’s intrigue with Lizzie Borden may be more than character research or a passing fancy. Sevigny has been known to frequent the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast/Museum in Fall River, according to the Boston Globe .
But Chloe Sevigny isn’t alone in her interest in Lizzie Borden.
“The Lizzie Borden house attracts about 50 to 300 visitors a day on average,” said Robert A. Mellion, president, CEO, and general counsel for the Fall River Chamber of Commerce in an interview with the Wichita Eagle . “On average they anticipate about 54,000 visitors annually.”
https://instagram.com/p/8wIG0VAVWV/?taken-by=chloessevigny
In keeping with the horror theme, Chloe Sevigny will also star in the upcoming film #Horror (pronounced Hashtag Horror), a film that is intentionally disturbing, but is framed within the subject of cyber-bullying.
#Horror will open in theaters November 20.
Chloe Sevigny has also been working with Matthew Broderick filming the dark comedy Look Away . Look Away focuses on a young girl who has a fake illness which disallows her to see or hear her mother. Look Away is slated for release in 2016.
Sevigny can also be seen on the small screen in a recurring role in American Horror Story: Hotel and an ad campaign for Apple Watch, tapping into the actress’ other profession as a fashion designer and former model.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ptePcnGEHs
[Photo by Jason Merritt/GettyImages]