NAOMI WATTS and JESSICA LANGE to star in Gia Coppola's "THE LONELY DOLL"

Variety reports.

REX SHUTTERSTOCK

MARCH 18, 2016 | 11:30AM PT

Naomi Watts and Jessica Lange will star in the independent drama “The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll” with Gia Coppola directing.

Indigenous Media, formed by Jon Avnet, Rodrigo Garcia and Jake Avnet will produce along Bruce Cohen (“American Beauty”) and Untitled Entertainment partner Jason Weinberg (“Ray Donovan”).

Coppola, who wrote and directed James Franco’s “Palo Alto,” will direct from a script by Merritt Johnson, whose credits include “Temple Grandin” and “In Treatment.”

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“The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll” is the story of Dare Wright, who became well-known in the 1950s thanks to her best-selling children’s book “The Lonely Doll.” Journalist Jean Nathan found Wright living in a public hospital in Queens four decades later, and her book pieces together Wright’s bizarre life of glamour and isolation, and her struggle to escape her painful childhood through her art. Wright passed away in 2001 at the age of 86.

“Rodrigo and I have been fans of and have worked with Merritt, Jessica and Naomi before,” said Jon Avnet. “Jean Nathan’s unique piece is a great vehicle for a reunion and chance for Gia Coppola to make a very distinctive film.”

Wright's relationship with her mother, Edith or "Edie" was both strange and enigmatic. Edie managed to be both totally neglectful and terribly controlling of her daughter, fashioning her into a kind of compliant Mini-Me or “handmaiden,” dressing her in fancy outfits and refusing her any contemporary playmates. A despairing Dare developed an unhealthy obsession with the mirror and, eventually, a more fruitful one with the camera. Mother tried to co-opt that one too, snapping nude shots of her fully grown daughter as they sunbathed, vacationing on a primitive island off North Carolina. They also liked to share a bed, spooning together well into adulthood. As they say in Bonnie Fuller’s Star Magazine: “Not Normal!”

Jon Avnet’s credits include “Black Swan” and “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Garcia’s credits include “Albert Nobbs” and “In Treatment.” Cohen produced “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Milk.”

Lange’s next film is “Wild Oats.” She will be starring on Broadway in “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” opening in April.

Watts is currently starring in “The Divergent Series: Allegiant” and will soon be seen with Jake Gyllenhaal in “Demolition.”