Dakota Fanning to star as immigrant in Sweetness in the Belly

Actor Dakota Fanning has been announced as the lead star in Sweetness in the Belly directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari.

The immigrant drama from a script by Laura Phillips is an adaptation of Camilla Gibb’s bestselling novel, and is being shot in beautiful Ireland.

Sweetness in the Belly is a story of an immigrant - an orphan from Africa whose escapes to England as a refugee. The story revolves around her unique life in embracing the immigrant community in London, and attempting to reunite people with their scattered families and that of her love life - a passionate lost love affair with a doctor.

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Twenty-four-year-old Dakota Fanning replaces Saoirse Ronan who was initially a part of the film project.

“We have always loved this moving fish-out-water story which connects us to a young refugee’s experience in London when escaping her war-torn home. The spin of this refugee originally being British and Caucasian, yet raised Muslim in Africa, makes this perspective incredibly fresh and timely. We are all thrilled to have caught Dakota Fanning at a really exciting point in her career,” HanWay Films’ Gabrielle Stewart was quoted as saying in Variety.

The other cast of Sweetness in the Belly include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Wunmi Mosaku and Kunal Nayyar, according to a report in Deadline.

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After Ireland, the filming of the movie will move to Ethiopia.

Developed by Sienna Films, the film is being produced by Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny along with Alan Moloney and Susan Mullen.

Dakota is also cast in the Quentin Tarantino pic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She last appeared in “Ocean’s 8” and in TNT’s “The Alienist.”