Olivia Wilde Drops Out Of ‘The Keeping Room’

Some moderately big news coming out of the casting chair this morning. It appears that Olivia Wilde, someone who has been in practically everything over the last two years, has dropped out of Daniel Barber’s The Keeping Room.

Barber’s The Keeping Room is a Civil War era thriller which centers around two sisters, along with an African American slave. The three are forced to fight for their home from soldiers who from the Union Army. The plot sounds pretty promising, so we aren’t sure why Wilde dropped out of the project, but now promising actress/screenwriter Brit Marling is stepping in to take her place.

Marling is set to star opposite Hailee Steinfeld and Nicole Beharie. Beharie will play the slave, and Steinfeld the other sister.

Since her Another Earth debut, the actress/writer has been keeping quite the busy schedule as well, with The Company You Keep, and The East, which is out May 31. In addition, Marling has just wrapped on The Green Blade Rises, and a comedy Posthumous. While Wilde is a diverse actress, she’s usually given watered down roles in exchange for her good looks. Marling made a name for herself by writing her own material, which she received an Independent Spirit nomination for.

Last year it was reported that the film would be financed by Wind Dancer Films. At the time Barber said about the film and its original slated actors, “I am thrilled to be working with these three fantastic actors, and very excited to be directing this great script.” At the time Jordan Horowitz of Gilbert Films noted about the film: “a cinematic, thrilling, and dangerous piece of material, and we could not be more excited with the team that has come together to bring this unique story to the screen.”

Are you excited to see Brit Marling in The Keeping Room?