Hannah Murray Replaces Elle Fanning In 'God Help The Girl'; Emily Browning Joins The Film

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by Kevin Jagernauth
July 9, 2012 1:32 PM
5 Comments

It was perhaps inevitable that Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian was going to move into filmmaking. For anyone who has followed the band over the years, you know that each album has usually arrived with an extensive story build around it, with appropriately theatrical artwork to go with it. Well, following a Kickstarter campaign and with the support of "Rushmore" producer Barry Mendel, the pieces all came together this spring for "God Help The Girl" with Elle Fanning and Brit actor Olly Alexander nabbing roles, but it looks like with production set to get underway, some changes have been made.

Bleeding Cool noticed (on the now disabled) site for Troika Talent that "Skins" star Hannah Murray has apparently replaced Elle Fanning -- who is tied up at the moment shooting "Maleficent" -- in the role of Cass and will be featuring alongside Emily Browning. The role of Cass is described to be a girl who recently moved from Glasgow, "or the far south of England (you decide)" as the official site says, so the switch from an American actress to a Brit should be fine. As for Browning, she likely nabbed the part of Eve, whose nationality was left open during casting, so she'll fit quite easily into the film, and having already delivered some her own songs for the "Sucker Punch" soundtrack, she'll have the pipes need for the role that requires the most singing.

The film, said to be inspired by the French New Wave of Truffaut and Godard, the early post-punk movement in music, pop musical movies of the 70's and 80s, and the films of John Hughes, Bruce Robinson and Bill Forsythe, follows James (Alexander), a cynical guitarist who accompanies Eve's singing and becomes a mentor to Cass, a teen who tags alongside the duo as she learns to play the guitar. The movie is based around the album of the same name released in 2009.

Production is set to get underway for three weeks this month, and we presume more official word will be arriving shortly. But the cast looks strong nonetheless, and the music is sure to be great and we're just glad things are continuing to move forward on the project.

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More: Elle Fanning, Hannah Murray, Emily Browning, God Help The Girl

5 Comments

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Ha | July 10, 2012 5:28 AMReply

Funny how they made a massive campaign to find unknown actresses and then just go and cast names...
DG | July 9, 2012 3:27 PMReply

Would have infinitely rather seen Elle in this. As a long time time B&S fan and Elle fan I was thrilled about the casting, but I guess thats is just how it goes. Hopefully Maleficent turns out good but I really doubt theres any chance it'll be the better of these two movies.
jonathan | July 9, 2012 3:08 PMReply

Ugh. My interest in this movie just went down 40%. Anything that forces me to think of Sucker Punch makes me cringe.
Real | July 9, 2012 2:40 PMReply

It's funny becasue the initial press release made a huge song and dance about the fact that Elle Fanning had won the role over tons of other actresses and was the only who could play the part...and now she's replaced just like that. Good for Murray and Browning. I like them both and they could do with some better parts.
yer | July 9, 2012 2:10 PMReply

Cassie!