'The Days of Abandonment': Rafe Spall Joins Natalie Portman, Mary-Louise Parker In HBO Movie

KEY POINTS

Rafe Spall will play a college professor and a doting father
"The Days Of Abandonment" is based on Elena Ferrante's novel
The novel was originally published in 2002

HBO has roped in actor Rafe Spall to play the male lead in the upcoming movie "The Days Of Abandonment."

Natalie Portman and Mary-Louise Parker have already been cast in key roles in the movie, which is based on Elena Ferrante's novel of the same name. The novel was originally published in Italian in 2002.

The movie revolves around a character named Tess, played by Portman, who is abandoned by her husband. Spall will portray her husband, Oliver, who has been married to Tess for over a decade. In the movie, he will play a popular college professor and a doting father.

Maggie Betts will direct the movie and she will also serve as executive producer. Betts is popularly known for her directorial drama movie, "Novitiate" released in 2017. The movie starred Melissa Leo, Julianne Nicholson and Dianna Agron in the key roles.

She also directed a documentary based on a woman's life and family in Africa amid the deadly AIDS epidemic in 2011. Sophie Mas via MountainA, Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler under Maven Screen Media banner, Len Amato for Crash & Salvage, Ferrante, Domenico Procacci for Fandango company, and Maria Zuckerman will serve as executive producers for the movie.

Spall previously starred in movies like "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," "Life Of Pi" and "MIB International." The 38-year-old actor will also feature in "The English," which will premiere on Amazon Prime Video. The mini-drama series is currently under pre-production. The series will also star Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer and Cristian Solimeno.

Spall last appeared in the television series, "Trying" as Jason Ross. The Apple TV+ comedy series also stars Esther Smith, Ophelia Lovibond, Imelda Staunton, and Oliver Chris in key roles.

HBO also added a bunch of new movies on its streaming platform. The streaming giant released "Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" on June 4 and "In the Heights" on June 11 along with "Betty" Season 2.

The platform also released "The Little Things" on Thursday. HBO Max seems to be giving a tough competition to fellow OTT platforms such as Paramount+ that announced on June 7 that more than 2,500 titles will be releasing this summer.