Dutch actress Sylvia Hoeks, who gained international recognition as Luv in “Blade Runner 2049,” is attached to play “Emmanuelle” star Sylvia Kristel in a feature directed by Michael R. Roskam (“Bullhead,” “Drop”).
Inspired by Kristel’s life, the untitled drama is set up at Bart van Langendonck’s Brussels-based Savage Film, producer of Roskam’s Oscar-nominated debut “Bullhead” and Robin Pront’s first feature, “The Ardennes,” another Flemish noir, as well as Roskam’s most recent film “Racer and the Jailbird.”
Shooting in France, Netherlands, Belgium and Los Angeles, the film will focus on Kristel’s iconic career in the ’70s and ’80s when the huge success of the “Emmanuelle” films stood in stark contrast to her troubled personal life, a press statement said.
Onscreen in the “Emmanuelle” roles, Kristel often projected composure and mystery. Off-screen, she went through a long series of relationships and developed a cocaine addiction when relocating to L.A..
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“Sylvia Kristel was one of the women that opened up a sexual way of looking at sex for women,” said Hoeks. But she added: “She was also “very free-spirited, maybe even too early in that regard for her generation.”
For Hoeks, “her intelligence and creativity as an artist made her difficult to grasp. You couldn’t have a full sense of who she was.”
“Kristel’s unique career, her personality and her intriguing romantic life, in combination with this incredible team, will make this a great movie,” Roskam added.
Translated into 30 languages, Belgian writer Dimitri Verhulst, whose “The Misfortunates” was adapted by Felix Van Groeningen, is penning the screenplay.
“Bullhead” established Roskam as one of Belgium’s most sought-after filmmakers. Variety called his second feature, “The Drop” with Tom Hardy, a “terrific Brooklyn thriller.”
Hoeks is currently shooting “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” directed by Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”), starring with Claire Foy. She is represented by ICM, Curtis Brown and Willemijn Tuip at the Netherlands’ Copper en Co.
