Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star in "Serena."
BRISTOL, TN - Ron Rash's novel "Serena," set in 1930s western North Carolina, has been adapted for film and will hit theatres this October. It stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. Very loosely based on Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the film follows newlyweds George (Cooper) and Serena Pemberton (Lawrence) who travel from Boston to the mountains of North Carolina where they begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon shows herself to be the equal of any man.
Together, this king and queen rule their dominion, killing or vanquishing all who stand in the way of their ambitions. But when Serena learns that she can never bear a child, she sets out to murder the woman who bore George a son before his marriage. And when she starts to suspect that George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage begins to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. The movie, directed by Susanne Bier, was filmed last year in the Czech Republic.
Rash, will read from his work and discuss it at King University's Memorial Chapel at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11. Rash is a Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Culture at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C.
Another Rash novel adapted for film is his novel "The World Made Straight," recently made in the Asheville area. Set in a rural Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, the film deals with a rebellious young man struggling to escape the violence that would bind him to the past. Due out sometime in 2013, the movie version includes actors Minka Kelly, Haley Joel Osment, Steve Earl, Noah Wyle and Abingdon actress Robin Mullins.
FOR MORE on Ron Rash's appearances in Bristol click HERE.
