Following the release of the Adele’s aptly named return-to-the-spotlight song/music video, director Xavier Dolan had nothing but praise regarding his four-day shoot with the singer on an isolated farm outside Montreal. “Everyone saw that she was just a natural,” he’d said of her acting in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Basically, all of her songs are revolving around the theme of unrequited love and so are my movies. We might come from different places and operate on different platforms, but we do share things and I think that was necessary to really connect.” It seems he wasn’t exaggerating about the “connection” for press purposes, as Adele’s now in talks to make her cinematic debut (with a cameo role) in the director’s upcoming film, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.
The film — Dolan’s first English language feature — already has a hoard of stars set to star in it, including Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington, Susan Sarandon and Kathy Bates. The film follows an actor as he recalls being 11 years old and having had a penpal relationship with an older TV star. Upon initial announcements about the film, Dolan described it in more personal terms:
It also is about a kid dreaming of having this man’s life for all the wrong reasons, not realizing how painful it actually is. I was that kid, writing love letters to actors — as a matter of fact, it seems like I still am. And that story is a tribute to both the kid I was and the idols of my childhood — some died, some just disappeared without a trace, because they didn’t fit.
The news that she’ll be working with Dolan again doesn’t come as a surprise on Adele’s part, either. She was the one who reached out to Dolan to direct her “Hello” video, and after it was released, she’d said on Kiss FM, “I’m sure I’ll get some flak for this, but I actually would like to act after working with Xavier.” (Dolan had explained how before the shoot, she was reluctant to act.) “I would be in a film for him, definitely,” she said.
The role she’s in talks to play is yet unknown.