Carla Gugino to Play Vivien Leigh in New Biopic

Carla Gugino Will be Vivien Leigh in New Biopic ‘The Florist’

Gugino will play the ‘Gone with the Wind’ star in a movie that explores her struggle with bipolar disorder as she starts work on a 1960s Broadway role.

(Left) Carla Gugino as Verna in 'The Fall of the House of Usher.' Photo: Eike Schroter/Netflix © 2023. (Right) Vivien Leigh in 1951's 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Preview:

Carla Gugino is playing Vivien Leigh in a new biopic.
Nick Sandow is directing from Jayce Bartok’s script.
The movie will shoot at the end of the summer.

Carla Gugino has long proved to be an adaptable actor –– in her last couple of roles alone, she’s been seen as a devilish dealmaker in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and a veteran newspaper reporter in ‘The Girls on the Bus’.

For a new movie role, she’ll be taking on a real-life cinematic legend, as she’ll play Vivien Leigh in a biopic called ‘The Florist’.

Leigh, of course, became famous starring in ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, but her career stretched beyond those two iconic roles.

What’s the story of ‘The Florist’?

Vivien Leigh in 1951's 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

The new movie is set as Leigh is preparing to lead the Broadway production of John Gielgud’s Chekhov adaptation of ‘Ivanov.’

As that is weighing on her, she collides with Joseph Penn — a WWII veteran and blue-collar florist who encounters Leigh on a delivery. At the same time, the star attends a local psychiatric facility for electroconvulsive therapy. Amidst the backdrop of madness, Leigh and Penn become each other’s sources of truth, beauty, and love.

Who is working on ‘The Florist’?

‘The Florist’ will be directed by actor/director Nick Sandow (who may be best known for playing Joe Caputo on ‘Orange is the New Black’, and for directing several episodes of the show).

Jayce Bartok wrote the script, taking as his inspiration a box of love letters written to the star.

The cameras should be rolling on the movie at the end of this coming summer in Philadelphia.

‘The Florist’: The Filmmakers Speak

Carla Gugino as Verna in 'The Fall of the House of Usher.'

Here’s what Gugino said to Variety about the film and the role:

“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew ‘The Florist’ was a journey I had to pursue.”

And this is Sandow’s comment:

“What drew me to the project was the script and how it brings together, for a fleeting moment, two human beings who seemingly couldn’t be more different. I was excited by taking these two discordant existences and making them touch, and seeing what that says about things like love, artistry, mental illness, and celebrity.”