Kirsten Dunst: Not directing The Bell Jar adaptation anymore

Kirsten Dunst was announced to direct the film in July 2016 from a screenplay she co-wrote with Nellie Kim. Fanning was attached to lead the cast

Kirsten Dunst is no longer attached to direct the big-screen adaptation of Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar". The 37-year-old actor, who was set to make her feature film directorial debut with the project, said the film had now changed hands. "I never owned (the rights), so it went away for me. It went to other hands. That's not in my hands anymore," Dunst told Entertainment Weekly.

However, a source close to the project has confirmed that Dakota Fanning is still involved in a version of the 1963 novel, currently in development as a Showtime limited series without Dunst. Dunst was announced to direct the film in July 2016 from a screenplay she co-wrote with Nellie Kim. Fanning was attached to lead the cast. Dunst previously helmed two shorts: "Welcome" (2007) and "Bastard" (2010).

"The Bell Jar" is Plath's only novel written just before she committed suicide in 1963. The story, written by Plath under pseudonym Victoria Lucas, revolves around a young woman called Esther Greenwood, who used to work as a magazine intern in New York City before having a mental breakdown upon travelling home to Boston.

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