Sarah Polley Adapting Margaret Atwood Novel for Big Screen

Polley ate lunch at the O&B Canteen at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, ahead of the premiere of her film "Take This Waltz."

The Canadian actress-director is giving a movie treatment to "Alias Grace," a historical novel about a true-life double murder in 1840s Canada.

TORONTO - Canadian actress/director Sarah Polley is adapting the Margaret Atwood novel Alias Grace for the big screen.

The historical novel by Atwood is a recreation of a true-life 19th century Canadian double murder, and takes readers inside the mind of Grace Marks, a 16 year-old housemaid who was convicted and jailed for killing a wealthy landowner and his housekeeper and mistress.

Polley has received funding from Astral Media’s Harold Greenberg Fund to option and adapt the best-selling Canadian novel through her production shingle, Tangled Productions.

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With Alias Grace, Polley will be returning to familiar ground: her debut feature, Away From Her, was a relationship drama that was adapted from celebrated Canadian novelist Alice Munro's short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain.

Away From Her, which starred Julie Christie and Gorden Pinsent, earned Polley an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay.

Her second feature, Take This Waltz, another relationship drama that starred Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, was based on an original screenplay.

A number of novels by Atwood have been made into theatrical or TV movies, including Harold Pinter's adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale, The Robbers Bride and Payback, an essay on debt that was turned into a theatrical documentary.

Polley’s recent acting credits include Bruce McDonald’s Trigger and Vincenzo Natali’s Splice, where she performed opposite Adrien Brody.