Rising UK star Riseborough replaces Vera Farmiga in Madonna’s W.E. to shoot this summer; Edward casting announcement imminent.

Rising UK star Andrea Riseborough has been cast in Madonna’s film W.E. as Wallis Simpson, the divorcee whose romance with British monarch Edward VIII forced him to abdicate the throne in 1936.

Vera Farmiga had been attached to star in the role, but left the project recently when she became pregnant.

Producer Colin Vaines said that an announcement of the actor who will play Edward is imminent; Ewan McGregor has been attached but has also left the film. Production is set to start on July 4 in the UK.

Abbie Cornish and Oscar Isaac will play the contemporary couple in the film which tells both the original story and a present day romance. Madonna wrote the screenplay with Alek Keshishian.

Kris Thykier, the UK producer of Harry Brown and Kick Ass, has come on board as executive producer of the film. David Parfitt had been a producer with Vaines but stepped down to focus on his Marilyn Monroe
project My Week With Marilyn.

Riseborough is no stranger to playing historical figures, having won a BAFTA TV award for playing Margaret Thatcher in Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk To Finchley. Her film credits include Happy-Go-Lucky and
Venus and she is soon to be soon opposite Sam Riley in Rowan Joffe’s upcoming Brighton Rock and in Mark Romanek’s Never Let You Go.

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