Kirsten Dunst to Direct Film Adaptation of The Bell Jar Starring Dakota Fanning

Kirsten Dunst will make her feature film directorial debut with a film adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s illustrious and only novel, The Bell Jar, Deadline reports. Dakota Fanning will play the lead role of Esther Greenwood.

Greenwood, heavily based on Plath herself, is a young woman aspiring to be a writer, but she battles between her aspirations and societal constraints, her struggles coinciding with her deteriorating mental health. The novel was published in 1963, the same year Plath committed suicide.

The Bell Jar made its first big-screen appearance in 1979, starring Marilyn Hassett as Greenwood.

Dunst has previously directed a pair of short films, which will make The Bell Jar her first full-length film in the director’s chair. She was recently nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the second season of FX’s Fargo.

Fanning will next appear in the Ewan McGregor-led American Pastoral, out in October.

Dunst’s adaptation of The Bell Jar is aiming to start production in early 2017.