Actress Bryce Dallas Howard never imagined that she would be cast as the lead in a new Tennessee Williams screenplay, but that’s what is happening now. as she’s starring in the famed writer’s long-lost The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond. Originally penned for director Elia Kazan after the two had worked on “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Pretty Baby, the script got lost in the shuffle and never was produced. Enter young film student, Jodie Markell, an actress-turned-director making her feature-length directing debut with the Williams screenplay.

“For Fisher Willow, Bryce Dallas Howard was always my first and only choice,” the filmmaker says of casting the plum role of a Tennessee Williams heroine. “I believe she is the greatest actress of her generation. When we initially approached her, she was not taking any jobs due to her pregnancy. So we did the only thing we could do: We waited until she was ready. I’ve never seen an actress her age with so much presence, so grounded in reality. She’s just so hungry for the truth.”

For Howard, daughter of actor/director Ron Howard, being cast as the feisty and determined Fisher Willow is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “To be the first actor to play a new Tennessee Williams character is literally the opportunity of a lifetime. There are only a handful of women who have done that in the history of theater and cinema. He’s one of our most cherished playwrights. That alone totally sold me on the movie.”

Raised outside of Hollywood in Greenwich, Connecticut, the 28-year-old actress didn’t have dreams of acting, but once she was bitten by the acting bug, she opted to study her craft at NYU before being cast in a leading role in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004), followed by his Lady in the Water (2006). Others roles include Manderlay for filmmaker Lars von Trier, as well as Spider-Man 3 for Sam Raimi. This summer Howard will join the Twilight phenomenon in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

An actress/wife/mother, Howard is now adding producer to her resume as she teams up with her dad and his Imagine company on the new and still untitled Gus Van Sant film, currently shooting in Portland. The New Year is indeed looking bright for this star on the rise.

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