Carla Gugino to Portray Hollywood Icon Vivien Leigh in Biopic "The Florist"

Us actress Carla Gugino has been tapped to play Hollywood screen legend Vivien Leigh in the biopic “The Florist”.

Nick Sandow directs the biopic a screenplay written by Jayce Bartok who put the script together based on a box of love letters.

“The Florist" explores Leigh’s struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1960s, as she prepares to lead the Broadway production of John Gielgud’s Chekhov adaptation of “Ivanov.” 

Leigh was a British actress who achieved film immortality by playing Scarlett O’Hara, the central character in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind,” opposite Clark Gable, and portraying the landmark role of Blanche DuBois opposite Marlon Brando in 1951’s “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew ‘The Florist’ was a journey I had to pursue,” Gugino said.

Set for production at the end of the summer in Philadelphia, Gugino’s Leigh collides with Joseph Penn — a WWII veteran and blue-collar florist who encounters Leigh on a delivery. At the same time, the star attends a local psychiatric facility for electroconvulsive therapy. 

“Amidst the backdrop of madness,” a synopsis reads, “Leigh and Penn become each other’s sources of truth, beauty, and love.”

Gugino recently garnered award attention for her role in the Netflix limited series “The Fall of the House of Usher” and currently stars in the HBO original series “The Girls on the Bus”. Additional credits include “The Haunting of Bly Manor”, “Californication”, and the beloved “Spy Kids" film franchise. 

The biopic will be produced by former CAA Agent Lauren Hale-Rieckhoff, in association with Vinyl Foote Productions. Jenna Mack will co-produce. Avy Kaufman cast the leads and supporting players are expected to be announced shortly.

“What drew me to the project was the script and how it brings together, for a fleeting moment, two human beings who seemingly couldn’t be more different,” said director Sandow, who is represented by Innovative Artists. “I was excited by taking these two discordant existences and making them touch, and seeing what that says about things like love, artistry, mental illness, and celebrity.”