Sex Education co-stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs are set to star in The Salt Path, an adaptation of Raynor Winn‘s best-selling memoir of the same name.
Deadline reports the film will be directed by Tony-winner Marianne Elliott, who recently mounted an acclaimed gender-bent revival of Company, in her feature directorial debut. Released in 2018, Winn‘s memoir details the time she and her husband, Moth, were dealt a dual blow; in short order, they lost their home after a business deal gone awry, and Moth was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, an incurable neurodegenerative disease. The two then set out on a yearlong coastal trek along the South West Coast Path, also known as the Salt Path. It is England’s longest footpath, spanning for 630 miles from Somerset to Dorset. Anderson will play Raynor, while Isaacs will portray Moth. “It’s a memory journal of a journey that took a year to accomplish, but more than that it’s about the absolute desperation they’d endured that brought them to this point and this walk gave them time to think,” says Elliott.
Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs Have Built Impressive Careers
Anderson rocketed to fame when she was cast as skeptical FBI agent Dana Scully on Fox‘s The X-Files, a role she played over the course of nine seasons, two feature films and a two-season revival. She has also won acclaim for her performances in The Fall, Sex Education, and as Margaret Thatcher in The Crown. She can next be seen in Marc Forster‘s White Bird and the Netflix film Scoop. British actor Isaac has made a career for himself playing sneering, aristocratic villains, including Tavington in The Patriot, Captain Hook in 2003’s Peter Pan, and Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. He made a rare comedic turn as Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the satirical The Death of Stalin. He can next be seen in Anna, a biopic of crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Director Elliott directed the original stage productions of War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, as well as well-regarded revivals of Angels in America and Death of a Salesman. Writing the script is Rebecca Lenkiewicz (The Woman in White, Small Axe). The Salt Path is produced by Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley for Number 9 Films, and Lloyd Levin and Beatriz Levin for Shadowplay Features. Chris Harper and Nick Sidi will executive produce for Elliott & Harper, with Kristin Irving for BBC Film, Norman Merry and Peter Hampden for LipSync Productions and Thorsten Schumacher for Rocket Science.
The Salt Path is being shopped for international sales at the Cannes Film Festival, and will begin filming next month. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
via Collider