British actor Sam Riley has joined WWII romance “Suite Francaise” opposite Michelle Williams and Matthias Schoenaerts, according to Deadline.
Saul Dibb is directing the film which follows Williams’ Lucille, a young French woman who is left in the care of her domineering mother-in-law when her husband goes off to war. She ends up falling for the German officer (Schoenaerts) assigned to guard their home. Riley will play a French officer named Benoit, but it’s unclear if he is Lucille’s husband. Kristin Scott Thomas is also part of the cast, presumably as Lucille’s mother in law. The film is loosely based on one story in Irene Nemirovsky’s unfinished novel of the same name, which she wrote as the Nazi occupation was unfolding around her and which she was not able to complete before her arrest, deportation to and death at Auschwitz. Two stories, part of a planned five part series, were hidden in a suitcase and taken by her daughters into hiding and then into freedom, and were not published until 2006.
Riley, who gained notice for his turns in “Control” and “Brighton Rock”, recently wrapped up shooting on Disney’s fairy-tale redo “Maleficent” opposite Angelina Jolie, and was last seen in Walter Salles’ long-gestating, highly anticipated “On the Road” opposite Garrett Hedlund. He’s also got Neil Jordan’s vampire drama “Byzantium” opposite Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan awaiting release this year.
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