Aaron Taylor-Johnson join forces for new movie

Gladiator’s Russell Crowe and Avengers: Age of Ultron star Aaron Taylor-Johnson have joined the cast of Rothko, a true-story drama about a woman’s legal battle against the men trying to sell her father’s art.

Aisling Franciosi (Black Narcissus) will star in the title role of Kate Rothko, while Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) and Jared Harris (Chernobyl) also join the cast.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (50 Shades of Grey), the film has been adapted from the Lee Seldes book The Legacy of Mark Rothko. Lara Wood, who worked on Miami Vice, has written the screenplay.

The official synopsis reads: “The Rothko trial – and the events that preceded it – is the shocking account of how a seemingly powerless young woman takes on an unscrupulous group of powerful middle-aged men – and wins.

“At 19, Kate Rothko finds herself suddenly both an orphan and a mother to her younger brother Topher (age 7). Alone and inexperienced, she turns to her father’s three closest friends for guidance – anthropology professor Morton Levine, Theodore Stamos – a semi-successful painter – and accountant-turned-gallery-director Bernard J. Reis.

“When she discovers these men have put in place an elaborate scheme to sell Mark Rothko’s art fraudulently, she moves heaven and earth to prevent this blatant abuse of her father’s trust.

“Bereaved but armed with the conviction that justice must prevail, Kate is ready to lose everything. With the help of assistant Attorney General Gus Harrow, she takes on a legal battle that would rumble on for more than four years and expose the underhanded greed of the supposedly genteel art world.”

Director Taylor-Johnson said in a statement: “Rothko is not just a movie about the great artist, but rather a timeless story about right versus wrong.”

“It’s Kate Rothko’s journey to protect the seminal paintings from the corrupt men who betrayed her father and stole his art; it is a reckoning with men in positions of power who try everything to destroy her father’s legacy.”

Rothko currently has no official release date.