Elizabeth McGovern has been confirmed to join Helen Mirren in the cast of Anton Corbijn’s upcoming period drama, Switzerland. Filming is set to take place across Switzerland, Italy, and the United Kingdom starting in 2025.
Alden Ehrenreich and Olivia Cooke are also part of the ensemble, with the screenplay penned by Joanna Murray-Smith. The narrative revolves around American novelist Patricia Highsmith (played by Mirren), whose tranquil life in the Swiss Alps is disrupted by Edward, a mysterious young man sent by her publishing company.
Elizabeth McGovern teams up with Helen Mirren for an intriguing tale of creativity and mystery (Photo: Elizabeth McGovern and Helen Mirren/Grassroots Entertainment Jeetz Filmworks)His mission is to convince Highsmith to write one final installment in her acclaimed Tom Ripley series. Despite her initial attempts to frighten him off with her dark imagination, a collaboration develops, blurring the lines between their fictional creation and reality.
McGovern is best known for her role as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, in the beloved Downton Abbey series, which chronicles the lives of the Crawley family. Additionally, she portrayed Helen Brown in the Fox/StudioCanal sci-fi drama series War of the Worlds, which follows a Martian invasion.
More recently, McGovern appeared as Margaret in Daniel Reisinger’s romantic comedy And Mrs, where she encounters challenges while trying to marry her deceased fiancé, Nathan.
Mirren’s most recent performances include her role as Grandmère in Marc Forster’s war drama White Bird, a prequel/sequel to Stephen Chbosky’s Wonder, and as Cara Dutton in the Yellowstone spinoff series 1923, where she stars alongside Harrison Ford.
Throughout her career, she has portrayed numerous historical figures, including Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears’ The Queen, Hedda Hopper in Jay Roach’s Trumbo, Catherine the Great in the miniseries Catherine the Great, and Golda Meir in Guy Nattiv’s Golda.
Ehrenreich gained recognition for his role as Hobart “Hobie” Doyle in the Coen Brothers’ black comedy Hail, Caesar! He also starred as Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story and John the Savage in the sci-fi series Brave New World. His recent work includes playing a Senate aide in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Luke in Netflix’s Fair Play.
Corbijn is known for his famous directorial works, including Control, which chronicles the life of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the English post-punk band Joy Division, and A Most Wanted Man, an espionage thriller adapted from John le Carré’s novel.
His other films include the George Clooney-led action film The American and Life, which depicts the friendship between photographer Dennis Stock and actor James Dean.
