It's official: The shining light of Bright Star, Abbie Cornish, has taken a role in W.E., Madonna's second directing effort. Co-written by Alek Keshishian, director of her Blonde Ambition-era documentary Truth or Dare, W.E. is based on the true story of King Edward VIII abdication of the throne in 1936 to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. Already signed on was Vera Farmiga, whom Madonna had wooed with several cups of tea. Farmiga said yes to taking on the role of The Duchess of Windsor without having seen Madonna's first directorial effort -- 2008's musical menage-a-twat Filth and Wisdom, which was dismissed by most critics (though Ben Lyons saw potential).
Farmiga told E!'s Mark Malkin "I go by other things. I go by scripts. I go with what I think I can do with a character and if I feel a kinetic energy with someone and I feel we can uplift and challenge each other." Cornish also signed on for Relativity's Dark Fields, playing opposite Bradley Cooper in a psy-fi thriller based on a novel about a writer who becomes among the first to use a miracle designer drug with severe side-effects. [Variety]