Carice Van Houten, who plays Lady Melisandre, the Red Priestess, in “Game of Thrones,” will star in “The Glass Room,” an adaptation of Simon Mawer’s novel, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.
The Dutch actress has also appeared in Paul Verhoeven’s “Black Book,” Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie” opposite Tom Cruise, and Bill Condon’s “The Fifth Estate.” Recent credits include Martin Koolhoven’s Western “Brimstone.”
“The Glass Room” is a love story about the relationship between two women set in an iconic modernist house in Czechoslovakia built by celebrity architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. “Spanning more than 80 years, the story in the vein of ‘The English Patient’ and ‘Carol’ reflects the most dramatic events of the 20th century,” according to a statement.
Also cast in “The Glass Room” are Hanna Alstrom, who appeared in Matthew Vaughn’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and its sequel as Princess Tilde, and Karel Roden, who appears in BBC/AMC crime drama “McMafia,” and whose credits include “Hellboy.”
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Other thesps include Alexandra Borbely, who stars in Oscar contender and Berlin Golden Bear winner “On Body and Soul,” for which she won best actress at the European Film Awards; Roland Moller, who was in Charlize Theron’s “Atomic Blonde” and the Oscar-nominated “Land of Mine”; and Claes Bang, who starred in Cannes Palme d’Or winner and Oscar hopeful “The Square,” and won best actor at the European Film Award for the role.
“The Glass Room” will be directed by Julius Sevcik, whose “Normal – The Dusseldorf Ripper” won him the best director award at Shanghai Intl. Film Festival, and whose “A Prominent Patient” was selected for Berlinale Special last year, and won best film at the Czech Lions.
“The Glass Room” is produced by Rudolf Biermann at Prague’s InFilm, whose most recent films include “A Prominent Patient” and Martin Sulik’s “The Interpreter,” which is being sold at Berlin’s film market by Celluloid Dreams. The latter film stars Peter Simonischek, who toplined in “Toni Erdmann” and won the best actor prize at the European Film Awards, and Jiri Menzel, who won an Oscar as the director of “Closely Watched Trains.”
The co-producers on “The Glass Room” are Czech public broadcaster Ceska Televize, Slovak private channel TV JOJ, and equity investor Igor Rattaj’s company Investito.
The English-language film starts shooting on Feb. 23. Locations include the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Austria and Italy.
