W.E is an upcoming feature film co-written and directed by Madonna, starring Abbie Cornish, Oscar Isaac, Richard Coyle, James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough. It began filming on location in London, England, on July 5, 2010, and also shot in France and the United States. The screenplay was co-written by Alek Keshishian, who previously worked with Madonna on her 1991 documentary Truth or Dare (aka In Bed with Madonna) and two of her music video clips. The film was produced by Madonna's production company Semtex Films and will be distributed in the United States by The Weinstein Company and in the UK by Optimum Releasing.
W.E tells the story of two fragile but determined women - Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) and Wallis Simpson - separated by more than six decades. In 1998, lonely New Yorker Winthrop is obsessed with what she perceives as the ultimate love story: King Edward VIII's abdication of the British throne for the woman he loved, American divorcee Wallis Simpson. But Winthrop's research, including several visits to the Sotheby's auction of the Windsor Estate, reveals that the couple's life together was not as perfect as she thought. Weaving back and forth in time, the film intertwines Wally's journey of discovery in New York with the story of Wallis (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward (James D'Arcy), from the glamorous early days of their romance to the slow unraveling of their lives in the decades that followed.
James d'Arcy & Andrea Riseborough as King Edward VIII & Wallis Simpson for Madonna's upcoming film, W.E., photographed by Tom Munro for Vanity Fair.
