Shubhabrata Dutta
Paolo Strippoli has rounded up the cast for his next feature! The Cinemaholic has learned that Isabelle Huppert and Jasmine Trinca will star alongside Matilda De Angelis in the upcoming thriller ‘The Stranger.’ Romana Maggiora Vergano is also cast. Filming will take place in Apulia and Lazio, Italy, and France from May 5 to June 30, 2025. Strippoli wrote the screenplay with Salvatore de Chirico.
The plot centers on a woman named Anna who unexpectedly shows up at her 28-year-old daughter Alice’s doorstep and reveals that their entire family history is based on a lie she concocted. She states that she made a deal with a mysterious “Stranger” to save Alice’s leg after an accident twenty years ago. The pact has since resulted in terrible events over the years, and only Alice can help her set things right. But at what cost? The story blends Faustian elements and Greek tragedies to give us a tale of a twenty-year-long family epic that spans from an accident in a villa in Bari to the Apocalypse.
Isabelle Huppert is a revered name in French cinema. The actor’s most notable roles include Erika Kohut in Michael Haneke’s ‘The Piano Teacher,’ which focuses on a teacher-student affair, and Augustine in François Ozon’s ‘8 Women,’ a crime comedy musical about eight women suspected of murder. Among her other notable acting credits are Michèle in Paul Verhoeven’s crime thriller ‘Elle,’ and Greta Hideg in Neil Jordan’s ‘Greta,’ co-starring Chloë Grace Moretz. We last saw Huppert as morally-conflicted police officer Lucie Muller in André Téchiné’s ‘My New Friends,’ and Alma Lund in Patricia Mazuy’s ‘Visiting Hours,’ which explores the kinship of two women whose husbands are serving time in the same prison. On television, we saw her as Jacqueline in the Amazon drama series ‘The Romanoffs,’ and Cosima Pia in the epic war drama series ‘Lines of Wellington.’
Jasmine Trinca’s latest credits as an actor include Gabriella in Ferzan Özpetek’s seamstress-centric comedy drama ‘Diamanti,’ Italian educator Maria Montessori in Léa Todorov’s biographical drama ‘Maria Montessori,’ and Annamaria Muscarà in Ferzan Özpetek’s comedy ‘The Goddess of Fortune,’ which focuses on a gay couple taking care of two children left in their custody by one of their friends. As far as TV is concerned, she recently played Lucia in the Netflix series ‘Supersex,’ based on the life of pornstar Rocco Siffredi, and Ida Ramundo in the historical drama series ‘La Storia,’ which centers on a Jewish single mother trying to protect her child in 1940s Rome.
Matilda De Angelis played Lidia Poët in the Netflix historical series ‘The Law According to Lidia Poët,’ based on the life and career of Italy’s first female lawyer. She portrayed Yvonne, a member of a group planning to rob Benito Mussolini’s treasure, in Renato De Maria’s action comedy film ‘Robbing Mussolini.’ Her other notable performances include Renata Contarini in Paula Ortiz’s war romance ‘Across the River and Into the Trees’ and Albertine in Sergio Castellitto’s rom-com ‘A Bookshop in Paris.’
Romana Maggiora Vergano made it big with her performance as Marcella in Paola Cortellesi’s comedy film ‘There’s Still Tomorrow,’ set in postwar Rome. In Peacock’s historical drama series ‘Those About to Die,’ she played Salena, and in the Sky Original crime fantasy series ‘Christian,’ we saw her as Michela. Her latest acting credits include Vittoria in Alejandro Monteverde’s biographical drama ‘Cabrini,’ based on the life of Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini, and Francesca in Francesca Comencini’s ‘The Time It Takes,’ showcasing the director’s relationship with her father.
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