by FilmInk Staff
STUDIOCANAL & RABBIT’S FOOT FILMS today announce that Sydney Sweeney is attached to star in Edith Wharton’s classic CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY for STUDIOCANAL and Charles Finch’s RABBIT’S FOOT FILMS. Principal photography begins imminently. Sweeney is fresh off the box office hit THE HOUSEMAID, which has grossed over $200 million worldwide.
Acclaimed British theatre and film director Josie Rourke (MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS) [pictured, right] directs and adapted the script from Wharton’s novel, often dubbed her greatest work.
Sweeney plays Undine Spragg, a fiercely ambitious woman from the Midwest, who strives for the social heights of turn of the century New York. Armed with beauty, daring/hustle and sheer force of will/unwavering ambition, Undine battles an entrenched elite, fearlessly courting controversy, until love and fortune align.
Charles Finch (PRISCILLA, MARIANNE AND LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE), Sydney Sweeney, Alison Owen of Monumental Pictures (JANE EYRE, SAVING MR BANKS, ME BEFORE YOU, BACK TO BLACK) and STUDIOCANAL will produce. STUDIOCANAL will fully finance, releasing theatrically in all its territories (the UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Benelux) launching worldwide sales at EFM.
Josie Rourke said, “Undine Spragg is the original dangerous woman. Edith Wharton’s character has forever fascinated, seduced and infuriated readers. The Custom of the Country was Wharton’s great American novel and Undine Spragg sweeps across America and through Europe at top speed, during a time of immense economic and social change. The book whistles with modernity and as I was writing this adaptation, Sydney Sweeney lived in my head as this iconic character — it’s as if Wharton sat down a century ago and wrote the role for her. I’m thrilled to be working with this luminous actor, Charles Finch, Alison Owen and STUDIOCANAL to bring this novel to the screen.”
Charles Finch adds “I’ve worked for many years to bring Custom of the Country to the screen and I’m delighted with Josie’s adaptation, and the power, passion and fun that Sydney will bring to the role. I am excited to be working with Alison and STUDIOCANAL.”
Anna Marsh, CEO of STUDIOCANAL, Chief Content Officer of CANAL+ expands “We are thrilled to be involved in bringing Custom of the Country to the big screen, led by Josie Rourke’s vision to carry Edith Wharton’s sharp and timeless observations into a new cinematic era. Following our recent success in distributing The Housemaid in Australia and New Zealand, we are delighted to collaborate once again with the immensely talented Sydney Sweeney as the formidable Undine Spragg. This project stands as a testament to STUDIOCANAL’s commitment to championing distinctive storytelling, and we look forward to working closely with Charles Finch, Alison Owen and Sydney Sweeney as producing partners and as the film comes to life.”
Nina Gold is the casting director and is in the process of building the ensemble around Sweeney.
EVP of Global Production Ron Halpern, US Chief Creative Officer, Shana Eddy-Grouf and VP Development and Production Isobel Carter are overseeing for STUDIOCANAL.
Sydney Sweeney is represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Wasserman, Attorney Stewart Brookman and imPRint.
Josie Rourke is represented by Marnie Podos at Under New Mgmt and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Josie Rourke’s debut feature Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie for Focus Features, was nominated for BAFTA, OSCAR and SAG Awards.
Rourke ran the Donmar Warehouse from 2012-2019–the first female theatre director to be appointed artistic director of a major London theatre. Acclaimed productions during her tenure included Sweet Charity with Anne Marie Duff, Measure for Measure, with Jack Lowden and Hayley Atwell; Saint Joan with Gemma Arterton; Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston and Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Janet McTeer and Dominic West, along with new plays by Nick Payne and James Graham, and City Of Angels which won the Olivier Award.
Theatre productions in New York include Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway, starring Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer, and Privacy at The Public starring Daniel Radcliffe. Recent productions include smash hit Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons in the West End, Dancing at Lughnasa at the National Theatre and the acclaimed Porn Play at the Royal Court.
Charles Finch is also the CEO of Finch and Partners, Founder and Editor of A Rabbit’s Foot magazine and a leading international businessman with a 30-year career in making movies and developing talent.
Alison Owen is an Emmy and BAFTA winning and Oscar and Golden Globe nominated film and television producer, and co-founded Monumental Pictures in 2015, with producing partner Debra Hayward. Headshot HERE
Most recently, Alison produced feature film BACK TO BLACK, the Amy Winehouse biopic for StudioCanal/Focus, starring Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell and Lesley Manville.
Prior to founding Monumental, Alison had international success producing Shekhar Kapur’s multi Academy Award nominated and BAFTA winning historical drama ELIZABETH (1998), starring Cate Blanchett. Subsequent producer credits include: THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (2008), JANE EYRE (2011), SAVING MR. BANKS (2013), SUFFRAGETTE (2015), and the multi-Emmy award-winning TEMPLE GRANDIN (2010). In 2016, Owen produced ME BEFORE YOU for MGM, directed by Thea Sharrock and starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. 2019 saw another collaboration with MGM on THE HUSTLE (2019), starring Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway, and HOW TO BUILD A GIRL starring Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen and Emma Thompson.
For television, Alison has executive produced five series of GHOSTS, the BAFTA-nominated hit comedy series for BBC, which has had huge international success, with the US version of the show onto its fifth season at CBS. Alison has executive produced three seasons of hit detective show THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, for PBS/UKTV created by Death in Paradise writer, Robert Thorogood, with a fourth in the works. She has also worked on two seasons of SANCTUARY: A WITCH’S TALE for AMC and Sundance Now, with the first season streaming on Netflix this December 2025. Alison also executive produced ITV series FRAUDS, starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, MARYLAND, starring Suranne Jones and Eve Best, MRS SIDHU INVESTIGATES for AMC/ Acorn, starring Meera Syal.
Previously Alison exec produced crime series MURDER IN PROVENCE, starring Roger Allam, Nancy Carroll and Keala Settle, for Britbox and ITV, and served as Executive Producer on RICHES, created by Abby Ajayi, for ITVX/Amazon. Prior to this, Alison produced the critically acclaimed series HARLOTS for Hulu and ITV, starring Samantha Morton and Lesley Manville, Moira Walley-Beckett’s Anne of Green Gables adaptation ANNE WITH AN E for Netflix, and Shekhar Kapur’s WILL for TNT.
Under her previous banner, Ruby Film and Television, Alison executive produced Stephen Poliakoff’s Emmy and Golden Globe nominated DANCING ON THE EDGE, an original series for the BBC and Starz, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Goode, John Goodman and Jacqueline Bisset, two series of the detective show CASE HISTORIES for the BBC and Masterpiece, starring Jason Isaacs, Emmy award-winning SMALL ISLAND starring David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ruth Wilson and Naomie Harris and S. J. Clarkson’s TOAST starring Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Ken Stott and Oscar Kennedy.
Sydney Sweeney photo by Elias Tehan.
