Jennifer Lawrence to play Fidel Castro’s lover in new film Marita

Eric Warren Singer, who co-wrote American Hustle – for which Lawrence received a Best Supporting Actress nomination – is behind the Marita screenplay.

Lorenz first met Castro in 1959, weeks after the conclusion of the Cuban revolution, after arriving in Havana on her father’s ocean liner. After fleeing Cuba, Lorenz joined a group of anti-communists and was recruited by Central Intelligence Agency to help carry out an assassination plot.

Her daughter, Monica Mercedes Pérez Jiménez, claims her mother’s Central Intelligence Agency handler was Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis, who had connections to Castro, and reportedly to the John F. Kennedy assassination.

The 25-year-old actress has signed on for the role of Marita Lorenz, a Cuban spy who had an affair with Castro in the 1950s.

Sony Pictures, moving aggressively, just picked up the project from the Oscar-nominated scribe in a competitive situation.

Lawrence, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is set to play yet another real-life woman in the wake of Joy, and one with an even more dynamic life story than the invention of the Miracle Mop. Lawrence will also produce alongside Matt Tolmach, Scott Mednick, and Andre Rouleau.

Exec Ange Giannetti will oversee for the studio.

Hew new project appears to have all the right ingredients for a fifth nomination – based on a true story with spies, intrigue and romance.

As previously reported, the team behind Fast & Furious 8 is hoping to film in Cuba. Lawrence is attached to star in Dear Fidel. This year, we’ll see her returning to her role as Mystique in 20th Century Fox’s anticipated X-Men: Apocalypse, and will team with Chris Pratt for Passengers, Morten Tyldum’s follow-up to The Imitation Game. Singer is represented by UTA and attorney Mark Goschman.