Big Little Lies actor Alexander Skarsgård joins cast of Rebecca Hall's directorial debut, Passing

Alexander Skarsgård has boarded the cast of Passing, which marks actress Rebecca Hall's feature directorial debut, according to Variety.He will join Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, and André Holland in the film based on a novel of the same name by American author Nella Larsen.[caption id="attachment_7650411" align="alignnone" width="825"]

Alexander Skarsgård. Image from Twitter[/caption]Hall has adapted the screenplay centred on the practice of racial passing, a term used to denote a person identified as the member of one racial group but who seeks to be accepted by a different racial group. Racial passing used to be a common practice in the 1920s, and the story, penned by Larsen, is based on the author's own mixed racial heritage.Passing will be produced by Margot Hand of Picture Films and Oren Moverman of Sight Unseen whereas Angela Robinson will serve as the executive producer.Negga will essay the role of Clare Kendry and Thompson of Irene Redfield, two high-school friends whose reunion threatens to topple their carefully constructed realities."Nella Larsen’s Passing is an astonishing book about two women struggling not just with what it meant to be black in America in 1929, but with gender conventions, the performance of femininity, the institution of marriage, the responsibilities of motherhood, and the ways in which all of those forces intersect. I came across the novel at a time when I was trying to reckon creatively with some of my personal family history, and the mystery surrounding my bi-racial grandfather on my American mother’s side. In part, making this film is an exploration of that history, to which I’ve never really had access," Hall had previously said about the project, reports Deadline.Skarsgård will also reunite with his Big Little Lies co-star Nicole Kidman for Robert Eggers' next project, The Northman. Eggers will helm the movie from a script with Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón. Lars Knudsen, best known for producing Ari Aster's Midsommar, will back the film.