Lily Gladstone Cast in Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Memory Police’ Adaptation, Directed by Reed Morano

Lily Gladstone has found her first role since becoming an Academy Award nominee.

The “Killers of the Flower Moon” actress, who recently made history as the first Native American woman nominated in the Best Actress Oscar category, is set to lead the adaptation of Yoko Ogawa’s sci-fi novel “Memory Police.” Oscar winner Charlie Kaufman wrote the script, with Reed Morano (an Emmy winner for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale”) directing.

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The Hollywood Reporter first reported the casting, which IndieWire confirmed.

Director Morano and Margot Hand of Picture Films will produce, with Gladstone’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” director Martin Scorsese executive producing alongside novelist Yoko Ogawa. Along with her TV credits, Reed Morano’s past features include “Meadowland,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and “The Rhythm Section.”

The novel takes place on an unnamed island where the people who live there are subject to collective amnesia. They endure a process of forgetting things, including objects, people, and daily rituals, with the amnesia enforced by an organization called the Memory Police. In the meta story, a novelist tries to hide her editor from the Memory Police since he can still remember the truth. The Japanese book was published in an English translation in 2019 and was a finalist for the National Book Award and International Booker Price.

Newly minted Golden Globe winner Gladstone also leads the 2023 Sundance favorite “Fancy Dance,” which she called the “absolute highlight” of her career thus far at the IndieWire Honors event in November and “the best work I feel like I’ve ever done, the most important story.” That film is still on the hook for distribution stateside. Gladstone earned a Gotham Award back in November 2023 for her lead turn in “The Unknown Country.”

“Memory Police” scribe Kaufman and director Morano have been attached to “The Memory Police” since 2020. Kaufman has previously adapted a slew of novels including “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” for Netflix, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” and the meta “Adaptation” inspired by Susan Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief.” His most recent screenplay “Orion and the Dark” is a YA adaptation for Netflix, starring Jacob Tremblay. Netflix will stream the film beginning February 2.

Read IndieWire’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” interview with Lily Gladstone here.

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