Australian-British writer Suzie Miller’s hit play Prima Facie is headed for the big screen, with English actress Cynthia Erivo to star in the lead role.
BAFTA-winning director Susanna White is attached to helm the project, due to shoot in the UK, which Miller has adapted herself from her play.
Bunya Productions’ Greer Simpkin, David Jowsey and Jenny Cooney are producing with US production company Participant Media (Spotlight, Green Book).
Miller, Solome Williams and Participant’s Jeff Skoll will executive produce, alongside Erivo via her company Edith Daughter. Robert Kessel and Elizabeth Haggard are overseeing project for Participant.
Prima Facie follows Tessa, a criminal defense barrister whose view of the legal system changes after she is sexually assaulted.
Miller, an ex-criminal lawyer, wrote the play out of frustration with the Australian judicial systems’ treatment of sexual assault cases.
Prima Facie was first staged at Sydney’s Griffin’s Stables Theatre in 2019 with Sheridan Harbridge in the lead, and won the major AWGIE Award in 2020. It then premiered on the UK’s West End in 2022 with Jodie Comer as Tessa, and has since gone on to Broadway in the US. Comer won Best Actress and Miller Best New Play at the UK’s Olivier Awards last month, and Comer is currently nominated for a Tony Award.
Jowsey told IF Bunya Productions has been developing a film adaptation with Miller for several years, and had found Participant as its US partner.
“It’s an international production, so that’s exciting for us,” he said.
“We’re trying to keep challenges in front of us and keep doing things we haven’t done before. This is one of those.”
Simpkin said “From the moment we saw Prima Facie on stage in Sydney, we knew that Suzie Miller’s extraordinary writing would make a compelling film. We are so thrilled to be able to take this story to the screen, not only with the incredible Cynthia Erivo and Suzie adapting her own work, but collaborating with brilliant director Susanna White and Participant, a company renowned for not just telling incredible stories, but using art to create impact and change in our world.”
Miller is also reportedly working on a screen adaptation of her Perth-set play Dust, and scripting a television series for Matchbox Pictures.