Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville is set to star alongside Happy Valley’s James Norton in a new British comedy film.
The film, directed by first-time filmmaker Tanya Reynolds, known for her role as Lily Iglehart in Netflix’s popular comedy-drama Sex Education, is titled Dog Person.
According to Screen Daily, the film is a black comedy that follows the life of a dental receptionist in her mid-thirties who finds herself caught between education and exhaustion.
The plot thickens when she breaks a tooth and visits a new dentist, leading to an unexpected awakening within her.
She then embarks on a disturbing fantasy to escape societal pressures obsessed with perfection. Reynolds will also take on the lead role, joining TV and film favourites Norton and Bonneville.
Besides Downton Abbey, Bonneville has starred in the Paddington trilogy and Bank of Dave, while Norton has had several small screen successes this year, including Playing Nice, King and Conqueror and House of Guinness.
Speaking about Dog Person, Reynolds said the film explores a woman discovering her fetish later in life.
“I wanted to make a film about the desire to stop being a person, even if just for a little bit,” she explained, reports the Mirror.
“This is a film about a woman discovering a fetish in her mid-thirties, and how she navigates this while trying to conceive a child with her rapidly dwindling supply of eggs.”
Despite the rather unusual premise, the filmmaker and actress insists: “I think a lot of people will see themselves in Sally, even as she eats cod off of her dentist’s living room floor.”
Producer Vaughan Sivell revealed he couldn’t contain his laughter when he first encountered Reynolds’ screenplay.
“It’s so exciting to discover a new voice,” he said. “I read it on a plane, and within a few pages, I knew we had to make this film.
“A few pages later, I was laughing out loud… Dog Person captures something honest about the pain, pressure and pleasure of being human – it’s strange, beautiful and completely Tanya.”
Filming for Dog Person is scheduled to begin in London and Wales next March, though a release date has yet to be confirmed.