Casey Affleck Sets 'World to Come' With Production Banner

Affleck will star alongside Katherine Waterston, Vanessa Kirby and Jesse Plemons in the drama, heading to the European Film Market.

Casey Affleck’s production company Sea Change Media is set to produce the The World to Come, the new feature from director Mona Fastvold and screenwriters Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard, adapted from Shepard’s acclaimed short story.

Alongside Affleck, the film will star Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Emmy-nominated Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, Mission: Impossible - Fallout), and Emmy-nominated Jesse Plemons (FX's Fargo, Vice). Sea Change Media’s Affleck and Whitaker Lader will produce.

Christine Vachon and David Hinojosa of Killer Films will executive produce. David Lowery, Toby Halbrooks and James Johnston of Sailor Bear will also executive produce, marking their fourth collaboration with Affleck following The Old Man & the Gun, A Ghost Story, and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. Christine Vachon and David Hinojosa of Killer Films will also executive produce.

The project will reteam Affleck and Ron Hansen, author of Academy Award-nominated The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Based on Jim Shepard's short story of the same name, The World to Come tells the story of two women who forge a close connection despite their isolation in the mid-19th-century American frontier. The Washington Post called the original short story “an astonishingly powerful demonstration of fiction’s capacity to transport us across time and space”; and The New York Times praised both “Shepard’s quick character sketches … [and] his ability to convey compressed, cinematic action,” traits that inspired Shepard and co-screenwriter Hansen to adapt the work for the screen.

"Prior to receiving the screenplay for The World To Come I hadn’t considered directing a film that I did not conceive of myself but as I turned its last few pages, I knew it was what I wanted to make next," said Fastvold. "Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard’s script is beautiful — it is a rich and engrossing character study of four second-generation Americans battling the elements and eventually each other. I am exhilarated to collaborate with Sea Change Media, Sailor Bear and Killer Films, as well as such an accomplished cast and crew. Our shared vision for the project is bold and ambitious; these are the ideal partners to bring this vital and important love story to life."

Added Affleck: “Mona is very smart and has an exciting vision for this film. The remarkable talents of Katherine, Vanessa, and Jesse are the perfect combination for this movie. We are grateful to Killer Films for coming on board to help guide the production. They have a long, successful, and prestigious history making special movies like this. And we always love working with our mates at Sailor Bear.”