Biopic Drama Thelma Adds Kathy Bates, John Malkovich, & More

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Biopic Drama Thelma Adds Kathy Bates, John Malkovich, & More

According to Deadline, Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Misery), Emmy winner John Malkovich (Death of a Salesman), and Lewis Pullman (Catch-22) have signed on to star in the upcoming biographical film titled Thelma, centering around the mother of Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Kennedy Toole.

Bates is set to portray the role of Thelma Toole, a mother who’s determined to publish her late son’s manuscript. Meanwhile, Malkovich and Pullman will be playing the respective roles of Walker Percy and John Kennedy Toole.

The independent film hails from Emmy nominee Ken Kwapis (The Office), who will be directing from a screenplay written by Andrew Farotte. It will be produced by Steven P. Wegner (The Blind Side) and Filmula’s Johnny Lin (Bernie).

“Thelma Toole is one of the most audacious characters I’ve ever encountered, and I can imagine no one better to bring her tenacity to life than Kathy Bates,” Kwapis said in a statement. “With rising star Lewis Pullman in the role of her gifted, if doomed, son and John Malkovich playing literary legend Walker Percy, I feel we’re putting together a real confederacy of brilliance.”

Thelma will adapt the real-life story of the mother of Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, who is best known for writing the classic novel A Confederacy of Dunces. After Toole died by suicide, his mother Thelma made it her life’s mission to see the book published. Because of her determination and will, she was able to deliver the manuscript to author Walker Percy, who later on became the novel’s champion.

After 11 years since John Kennedy Toole’s death, his masterpiece was finally published in 1980 and was an instant cult classic. For his acclaimed work, he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.