Kirsten Dunst to debut as a director

It is not the first time a popular actress debuts as a director. After having played in more than twenty author movies – and having directed two, Welcome and Bastard – Kirsten Dunst has decided to take the plunge. The Jumanji, The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette’s actress will direct the film adaptation of The Bell Jar, posthumous novel by American author Sylvia Plath, who died by suicide at only 31.

The ‘bell jar’ is the sensation felt by the protagonist throughout the book: Esther Greenwood is a young girl from the suburbs of Boston (as the author) who travels to New York to do a Summer internship at a prestigious magazine. The comeback home is tragic: Esther finds out she hasn’t been accepted at a shool course she really cared about and starts having symptoms of depression, which led her to a psychiatric hostipal.

The protagonist chosen for the role is 22-year-old actress Dakota Fanning, who, despite her young age, has already more than 40 movies to her name.