‘The End Of Getting Lost’: Margaret Qualley Boards Amazon Thriller From ‘Mustang’ Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Producer Dakota Johnson; ‘Normal People’s Paul Mescal In Talks

Matt Grobar
·3 min read
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Margaret Qualley (Maid, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood) will exec produce and star in The End of Getting Lost, an Amazon Studios thriller from Mustang director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, which also has Paul Mescal (The Lost Daughter, Normal People) in talks to co-star, Deadline has confirmed.

The film is based on a novel of the same name by Robin Kirman, which Simon & Schuster will publish on February 15. In this dark, cunning love tale set against 1990s Europe, we follow a young couple, Gina (Qualley) and Duncan (Mescal), on what Duncan claims is their honeymoon—but after Gina suffers a mysterious accident, we’re brought into a dizzying journey where we toggle between past and present, husband and wife, to uncover a portrait of love’s power, as well as its dangers. As the pair hop borders across Europe, their former lives threatening to catch up with them while the truth grows more elusive, we witness how love can lead us astray, as well as what it means to lose oneself in love…

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Kirman is adapting the screenplay, with Dakota Johnson and Ro Donnelley producing under their TeaTime Pictures banner.

Qualley is an Emmy nominee who recently drew SAG and Golden Globe noms for her turn in the Netflix series Maid, based on the book by Stephanie Land. She’s also appeared in films including My Salinger Year, Seberg, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, Native Son, The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, Novitiate, The Nice Guys and Palo Alto, along with the series Fosse/Verdon and The Leftovers.

Mescal broke out with his Emmy-nominated turn opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones in the Hulu romantic drama series Normal People, based on the novel by Sally Rooney, and most recently appeared in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s acclaimed Netflix drama The Lost Daughter, which also starred Johnson.

Ergüven rose to acclaim with her 2015 debut film Mustang, which premiered at Cannes and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Feature. Her second feature, Kings, starred Halle Berry and Daniel Craig. She’s also directed episodes of such series as The First, The Handmaid’s Tale and Perry Mason.

Kirman’s first novel, Bradstreet Gate, was published by Crown in 2015. She also has a TV series, The Love Wave, in development with TeaTime Pictures and Boatrocker Studios.

Johnson and Donnelly’s shingle TeaTime Pictures recently debuted the films Cha Cha Real Smith and Am I OK? at the Sundance Film Festival. The company is also producing Daddio, with Johnson and Sean Penn attached to star, and Christy Hall on board to write and direct, and has a first-look TV deal with BoatRocker Studios, with a number of series in development.

Qualley is represented by UTA, Linden Entertainment, Management 360, Relevant and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Mescal by CAA and Curtis Brown Group in the UK; Ergüven by CAA, Artmedia in France and Management 360; Johnson by WME, Untitled Entertainment and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; and Donnelley and Kirman by WME.

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