Angourie Rice to Star in Australian Period Drama 'Ladies in Black'

The feel-good film from director Bruce Beresford is set to begin production this month in Sydney.

Angourie Rice has signed on to star in the period drama Ladies in Black, director Bruce Beresford's adaptation of Madeleine St. John’s 1993 best-selling Australian novel The Women in Black.

The Australian actress, who since last year has appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Beguiled and The Nice Guys, will return home to Sydney for the feel-good film, in which she will star alongside Julia Ormond (Mad Men) and Rachel Taylor (Jessica Jones, Transformers).

Set in 1959 in the high-end department store Goodes, Ladies in Black tells the story of shy schoolgirl Lisa (Rice) who takes a summer job at the store while waiting for the results of her final exams. There she meets the "ladies in black," the glamorous Goodes employees. Beguiled and influenced by Magda (Ormond), the vivacious manager of the high-fashion floor and befriended by fellow saleswomen Fay (Taylor) and Patty, Lisa grows from a bookish girl to a glamorous, positive young woman, becoming a catalyst for a cultural change in everyone's lives.

Beresford, who has just wrapped production on the Lifetime TV movie Flint starring Queen Latifah, said he was "thrilled to have assembled such a talented cast, who will bring to life wonderfully the varied characters from Madeleine St John’s novel."

Ladies in Black is being produced by Allanah Zitserman and Sue Milliken. The screenplay was adapted from the novel by Beresford and Milliken. The film has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Create NSW.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions' Stage 6 Films is the worldwide distributor.