A Storm in the Stars

17 year old Elle Fanning stars as Mary Godwin in A Storm in the Stars which follows the tumultuous relationship between Mary, who wrote the iconic gothic-horror novel Frankenstein when she was just 19, and the young poet Percy Shelley.

Mary is a rebellious and outspoken teenager. When she meets the poet Percy Shelley, there’s a spark of attraction between the two outsiders who feel trapped within polite society. Percy is contrary and selfish, talking of sexual freedom and progressive ideas that are beyond the boundaries of their age. For sheltered Mary, it’s love at first sight.


Douglas Booth (represented by Curtis Brown in the UK) stars as Shelley. Douglas can currently be seen in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and previously starred opposite another young American starlet, Hailee Steinfield in Romeo and Juliet.

BAFTA Rising Star nominee Bel Powley (represented by BWH) plays Claire Claremont, Mary’s stepsister who contributes to the problems in the relationship when she moves in with them.

Bel, from Shepherd's Bush, got her acting break at age 13 when she starred in the first two series of popular CBBC drama M.I. High, and she first featured on Screenterrier's pages back in 2009 when she starred alongside Robbie Coltrane in ITV's Murderland.
Her recent roles in Diary of a Teenage Girl and as Princess Margaret in Girl's Night Out have seen her shoot to stardom.

Here's the full synopsis for A Storm in the Stars:

Mary is a rebellious and outspoken teenager. When she meets the poet Percy Shelley, there’s a spark of attraction between the two outsiders who feel trapped within polite society. Percy is contrary and selfish, talking of sexual freedom and progressive ideas that are beyond the boundaries of their age. For sheltered Mary, it’s love at first sight.

When Mary’s family discover that Percy is married with a child, they forbid any further contact. Mary and Percy elope, taking Mary’s half-sister Claire along for the ride. It’s a scandal, and with Percy’s philandering ways, rumours of a ménage à trois are whispered everywhere they go. Claire wilfully flirts her way into Lord Byron’s affections and Mary is relieved when they are asked to join the decadent poet at his house in Lake Geneva. It’s a chance to escape the gossip-mongering and restrictions of England.

During one stormy summer night, to distract Mary from Percy’s infidelities, Lord Byron suggests they all write a ghost story. All the pain and guilt that Mary feels about Percy, Claire and the child she lost, is poured into giving birth to Frankenstein’s Monster. The story is incredible, a classic that even Percy must acknowledge. But women don’t write books, and publishers certainly won’t print them. The rebel rises, and Mary fights for her creature and her identity, all at the age of eighteen.

A Storm in the Stars has just started production with a read-through in London. It is directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female director, following on from her critically acclaimed debut, Wadjda, and written by Emma Jensen. Production is by Hanway Films, with casting by Amy Hubbard.