Here comes Belle Gunness.
Wait…who? I know that’s what you’re wondering. Who the hell is this Belle Gunness? Only the US’ most prolific female serial killers. Not only was she thought to have killed her two husbands, during her reign of terror she also killed her two daughters, a number of other children as well as numerous suitors and boyfriends; estimates say she killed more than 40 people over several decades. How we haven’t seen a movie about this woman until now is beyond me.
Producer Ed Bass co-wrote the script to Belle (which he’ll also direct) with Eva Mayer who purchased the farm Gunness used to own and then discovered some of the love letters that either made it back or were never sent to Gunness’ victims.
After reading about Gunness, I can’t believe I’ve never even heard of her and I’m going to have to search out more details. In starting the search, I came across a few photos of Gunness (including the one above) and I started to wonder what major star would be willing to step into the role. Thoughts?
How old was Gunness when all this went down? I’m getting a bit of a Christina Ricci vibe from the picture.
Scratch Ricci, I just read that Gunness was in her 40s, and Norwegian, and a rather large woman (5’8″ 200lbs) … this could call for a physical transformation a la Charlize in Monster.
First actress with Scandinavian roots that comes to mind: Malin Akerman. She’s a little young, but with make-up she could pull it off. Other Scandinavians: Lena Olin and Connie Nielsen.
Any thoughts? Yeah, sounds awesome. Bout time we had a badass female villain. Wonder if this will be like a standard slasher flick or more investigative like a Jack the Ripper type of story. Either way, setting this in the 19th century should add a lot to the creep factor.
Malin Akerman seems a bit too fluffy, but I don’t think this role requires a physical transformation or someone who looks like Kathy Bates. I can see someone like an Angelina Jolie.
@Benigans That’s sort of what I was thinking – a big name star “dressing down” for the role (a la Theron in “Monster”). Jolie certainly has the height for it and she seems they type willing to go “extreme”. Good suggestion!
@Ashley – Connie Nielsen…I had to look her up but yeah!
Actually we live in LaPorte and close to where this all happened. Kate Winslett would be a great Guinness.