By Claire Corrigan
Mullingar actress Niamh Algar will star in The Wonder, a new film set in the Irish Midlands during the 1800s, which is due to hit Netflix in November.
The film is a psychological thriller inspired by the 19th-century phenomenon of the ‘fasting girls’ and adapted from the acclaimed novel by Emma Donoghue (Room).
The film is set in 1862 when a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe 11-year old Anna O’Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months.
The star-studded cast also includes Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Brían F. O’Byrne, Elaine Cassidy, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Tom Burke, Dermot Crowley, Toby Jones and David Wilmot, and is produced by Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Donoghue, Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen. The Wonder will be released globally on Netflix on Wednesday, November 16.