Deadline is exclusively reporting that Apple Studios have acquired the film rights for Dolly, a sci-fi courtroom drama story, with Florence Pugh attached to star and Vanessa Taylor and Drew Pearce set to write the script.
The film is inspired by Eilzabeth Bear’s short story of the same name, follows a robotic ‘companion’ doll being put on trial accused of killing its owner and shocks the world by claiming she’s not guilty and asking for a lawyer.
The report states that insiders are stressing that the project isn’t officially greenlit by the studio yet as the script still needs to be written on the idea and a director still needs to be attached. Insiders also state that it was a competitive war going on to acquire the spec, with a total of four bidders that included multiple studios and another streamer, but of course they aren’t named in the report.
Apple Studios will be producing the project along with Drew Pearce through Point of No Return Films, while his partner, Ian Fisher, will serve as executive producer alongside Florence Pugh and Vanessa Taylor.