Uma Thurman, Anthony Hopkins and Phoebe Dynevor to Star in Richard Eyre’s Forbidden Romance ‘The Housekeeper’ (EXCLUSIVE)

“Notes on a Scandal” and “Iris” director Richard Eyre has assembled a starry cast for his next feature, an evocative romance fictionalizing the inspiration behind Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca.”

“The Housekeeper” — being launched at AFM by Embankment Films alongside CAA Media Finance, which is co-repping U.S. rights — will be led by Oscar nominee Uma Thurman (“Oh Canada,” “Pulp Fiction”), two-time Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins “(The Father,” “The Silence of the Lambs”) and Phoebe Dynevor (“Bridgerton,” “Fair Play”).

Eyre will direct from a script written by bestselling author Rose Tremain, based on her own short story and forthcoming novel. The film is being produced by Julia Taylor-Stanley and Kevin Loader. 

“The Housekeeper” is set in the mystic, brooding and wild landscape of Cornwall, the rugged Atlantic foot of England, where Danni (Thurman), housekeeper at Manderville Hall — a grand and historic house owned by the wealthy and widowed Lord DeWithers (Hopkins) — falls prey to the glance of a young and beautiful visitor, the novelist Daphne Du Maurier (Dynevor). For one, their affair is an all-consuming love, for the other an intoxicating realization of her secret longings.

“Rose Tremain’s story grapples with love, fear, fiction, desire, ambition, death and legacy — perhaps epic, whilst providing us with the delicacy of most complex, nuanced characters and unexpected shifts in audience sympathy,” Eyre said in a statement. “The cast and I hold in our palm a story as rich and turbulent as the landscape that it inhabits, with Manderville Hall holding secrets and emotional intrigue within its historic walls.”

Added Embankment’s Hugo Grumbar: “’Richard is a master storyteller, whose films elicit award-winning performances. Beyond the magnetism of its romance, ‘The Housekeeper’ brims with inventive twists and turns of desire and deceit, and mirrors today’s challenge to find purpose and identity.” 

Taylor-Stanley said, “Kevin and I are thrilled to be working with Richard and our wonderful cast to bring Rose’s evocative story to its global audience at the end of 2025.”

Thurman is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush & Kaller, LLP. Hopkins is represented by UTA, Independent Talent Group and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher. Dynevor is represented by WME, United Agents and Luber Roklin Entertainment.