Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman are going to have a nasty divorce.
The two British stars have signed on to star in The Roses, Searchlight’s reimagining of the 1989 dark comedy The War of the Roses, which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
Jay Roach, the comedy director who segued into drama with movies such as Recount and Bombshell, is helming the feature that is in development at the studio arm. Tony McNamara, who earned an Oscar nomination for writing Searchlight’s acclaimed Poor Things, penned the script, which is based on the novel published in 1981 by Warren Adler.
The original movie, directed by Danny DeVito and released by 20th Century Fox, told of a married couple, Oliver and Barbara Rose, who seemingly live the perfect life in a perfect old mansion. When the wife realizes she no longer loves her husband, and in fact bitterly dislikes him, it precipitates divorce proceedings that start as vicious and only escalate from there, as humiliations, sabotage and violence take hold of both sides.
Cumberbatch and Colman will play the couple.
Cumberbatch is producing under his SunnyMarch banner with the company’s Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland. Colman will produce under her South of the River banner with partners Ed Sinclair and Tom Carver. Roach and Michelle Graham are also producing.
Jonathan R. Adler and Michael Adler, from Adler Entertainment Trust, are executive producing.
Cumberbatch, who earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in 2014’s The Imitation Game, was recently seen in Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl adaptation The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
Colman, who won an Oscar for Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, was most recently seen on the big screen in Warner Bros.’ Wonka and will next be seen opposite everybody’s favorite bear in Paddington in Peru.
Cumberbatch is repped by UTA and Conway van Gelder, Colman by CAA and United Agents. Roach is repped by UTA, Mosaic and Behr Abramson, while McNamara is repped by UTA, Sugar23, Frankfurt Kurnit and HLA Management in Australia.
