Lakeshore Entertainment has cast Dakota Fanning to co-star in the upcoming Philip Roth adaptation, American Pastoral. Fanning joins Ewan McGregor and Jennifer Connelly in the film, which will be directed by Philip Noyce. American Pastoral is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Philip Roth. Fanning will play the pivotal role of “Merry Levov”, the daughter of McGregor’s “Swede Levov” and Connelly’s “Dawn.”
“The role of ‘Merry’ is an extremely complex part, and I believe that Dakota Fanning will break our hearts with her performance,” stated Lakeshore president, Gary Lucchesi.
American Pastoral’s adapted screenplay was written by John Romano (Lincoln Lawyer) with filming scheduled for March 2015 in Pittsburgh, PA. American Pastoral will be produced by Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi.
American Pastoral follows Seymour “Swede” Levov, a legendary high school athlete, who grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father’s business. Swede’s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and committing a deadly act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War.
Fanning was recently seen in The Runaways, The Twilight Saga, and Night Moves. She will next appear in The Last of Robin Hood. Fanning is represented by CAA and Echo Lake Entertainment.
