Rooney Mara Joins Pop Star Drama ‘Vox Lux,’ Featuring Original Songs by Sia

Sia had five original songs attached to new movie releases this year — and that’s not including the Rihanna track she wrote for Star Trek Beyond. It looks like 2017 is going to bring us even more Sia Cinema, as the brilliant lyricist and enigmatic singer is set to lend her musical skills to Vox Lux, a new drama that has also just secured Rooney Mara as its leading lady.

The Wrap reports that Mara has signed on to play the lead in Vox Lux, a new drama that follows a talented young pop star’s 15-year journey as she emerges from “unusual circumstances” to become a renowned superstar. Mara will play the young up-and-comer, Celeste, with Sia providing original songs for the film’s soundtrack.

Vox Lux is the second effort from Brady Corbet, who made the transition from actor to director this year with The Childhood of a Leader, a visually impressive and foreboding drama that imagines the life of a young boy who will grow up to become a fascist ruler. The film not only established Corbet as a promising new directorial talent, but proved that he learned quite a bit from his work with foreign filmmakers like Lars Von Trier, Olivier Assayas and Michael Haneke.

Just as exciting as the pairing of Mara and Sia is this intriguing bit of info: Corbet will shoot Vox Lux on 65mm large format film with backing from Kodak; he plans to exhibit the finished film in 70mm.

Mara recently lent her voice to Kubo and the Two Strings, and appeared in the films Una and Lion, both of which screened last week at TIFF.