Ellen Page and Kate Mara are taking their real-life friendship to new heights, starring beside one another in the upcoming romantic drama Mercy, according to Variety. The Oscar-nominated Juno star will play the daughter of a man on death row who winds up falling in love with a woman (played by House Of Cards’ Mara) on the opposite side of the capital punishment debate.
Page—who, along with Mara, is co-producing Mercy with Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and David Hinojosa—hinted at the project during a Zurich Film Festival press conference last year when she said, “I’m focusing mostly on stories that are meaningful to me and stories for women and supporting more gay characters.” This sure to be life-affirming romp will be directed by Israeli filmmaker Tali Shalom Ezer (Princess), from a screenplay by British TV writer Joe Barton (Humans, Cuffs). “We were so enthralled by Tali’s first film and have been looking to work with Ellen and Kate for years,” Vachon and Hinojosa said in a statement. “This is the perfect project to bring everybody together.”
Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is The New Black) and Amy Seimetz (The Killing) have been cast in supporting roles, with Elias Koteas (also of The Killing) presumably playing Page’s father. The two lead actors/producers worked together only once before, for the Funny Or Die parody short Tiny Detectives.