Jeremy Irons And Sienna Miller On "High Rise" Guest List

Screen Daily reports that Jeremy Irons and Sienna Miller have joined Ben Wheatley's film adaptation of author J. G. Ballard's 1975 satirical novel "High Rise".

Ballard also wrote the book that was turned into Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" and the novel that became David Cronenberg's "Crash".

Set in a luxury ultra-modern high-rise building, the story follows a group of affluent tenants who revert to barbarism. Cocktail parties degenerate into attacks on 'enemy' floors and once-luxurious amenities become an arena for primal and violent mayhem.

Irons will play a visionary architect and Miller his devoted aide who strikes up a relationship with Tom Hiddleston's character.

Producer Jeremy Thomas has been trying to get a film adaptation of High Rise off the ground for ages. Nicolas Roeg almost turned the tale into a film in the '70s. Then, in 2010, Vincenzo Natali was going to direct a pic using a script by Richard Stanley.  The rights lapsed, however, and now a new writing and directing team has come aboard and it seems like they're actually going to get this adaptation across the finish line.

Wheatley's regular writing partner Amy Jump is writing what is being labelled a "faithful" adaptation

Additional casting is underway and filming gets underway in July in Belfast.