Ben Wheatley’s upcoming film of JG Ballard’s High Rise has cast Jeremy Irons and Sienna Miller, joining the previously announced Tom Hiddleston.
Screen Daily reports that Irons and Miller will be playing “a visionary architect while… Miller will play his devoted aide who strikes up a relationship with Hiddleston’s character Robert Laing.”
A film of High-Rise has been in development for years, with Irons’ Dead Ringers director David Cronenberg at one point set to direct.
Filming on High-Rise begins in Belfast in July. The site also included a lengthy synopsis:
“The film centres on a new residential tower built on the eve of Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power, at the site of what will soon become the world’s financial hub. Designed as a luxurious solution to the problems of the city, it is a world apart.
Enter Robert Laing (Hiddleston), a young doctor seduced by the high-rise and its creator, the visionary architect Anthony Royal (Irons). Laing discovers a world of complex loyalties, and also strikes up a relationship with Royal’s devoted aide Charlotte (Miller).
But rot has set in beneath the flawless surface. Sensing discord amongst the tenants, Laing meets Wilder, a charismatic provocateur bent on inciting the situation. Wilder initiates Laing into the hidden life of the high-rise and Laing is shocked at what he sees. As the residents break into tribal factions, Laing finds himself in the middle of mounting violence. Violence that he also finds emerging in himself.”
