Sarsgaard romances schoolgirl in British drama

By Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Peter Sarsgaard will play a predatory Lothario in "An Education," a coming-of-age drama also starring Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson.

Writer Nick Hornby ("About a Boy") adapted the screenplay from a memoir by British journalist Lynn Barber, published in literary magazine Granta.

The story revolves around a 17-year-old girl (Carey Mulligan) living in the quiet London suburbs. As the swinging '60s culture emerges, her world turns upside down after she meets a 35-year-old sportscar-driving Brit (Sarsgaard).

He courts her with dinners and foreign trips, charming her father (Molina) but jeopardizing her plans to study at Oxford University. Thompson plays her disapproving headmistress.

Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig ("Italian for Beginners") will direct. Principal photography is set to begin in late March in London.

Sarsgaard's recent credits include "Rendition" and "Jarhead," while Mulligan played one of Keira Knightley's sisters in "Pride & Prejudice." Molina appeared in "The Da Vinci Code," while Thompson recently reprised her role as Professor Sybil Trelawney in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter