‘In the Bedroom,’ ‘Little Children’ Director Todd Field Sets First Film in 15 Years, Starring Cate Blanchett

Three-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Todd Field has emerged with his first film in 15 years since the release of “Little Children,” and it’s set to star Cate Blanchett. The “In the Bedroom” director and Blanchett have paired for “TAR,” an original drama that Field wrote and will direct for Focus Features. While the plot details are under wraps, the film is reported to be set in Berlin. Production is aiming to kick off this September. Deadline first reported the news. Field will also produce “TAR” under his Standard Film Company banner alongside Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert for Emjag Productions.

Todd Field broke out of the American Film Institute to direct his explosive feature debut “In the Bedroom,” starrring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, and Marissa Tomei in Oscar-nominated roles. The drama about parents grappling with the death of their son after an incident involving his girlfriend earned rave reviews and is widely considered one of the best films of the 2000s. Field then followed that film with 2006’s “Little Children,” a drama about adultery in the suburbs starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson that earned Winslet a Best Actress Oscar nomination, Jackie Earle Haley a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and Field and co-screenwriter Tom Perrotta an Adapted Screenplay nomination.

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Various other projects for Field fell through over the years, including a film set in the Mexican Revolution starring Leonardo DiCaprio and an adaptation of Jonathen Franzen’s novel “Purity” for Showtime starring Daniel Craig. Field was also at one point in talks to direct Cormac McCarthy’s notoriously difficult-to-adapt western epic “Blood Meridian.” “America’s Last Prisoner of War,” about Michael Hasting’s investigation of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for five years in Afghanistan, also didn’t pan out.

Cate Blanchett, meanwhile, has had a busy past year, recently seen in the miniseries “Mrs. America” as Phyllis Schlafly. She also recently wrapped production on Guillermo del Toro’s starry “Nightmare Alley” and Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” for Netflix. Additional upcoming credits include a voice role in del Toro’s upcoming “Pinocchio” and a supporting turn in the Eli Roth-directed video game adaptation “Borderlands.”

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