Matt Smith, best known recently for his portrayal of Prince Philip in Netflix's The Crown, will play Charles Manson in a new film. The cult leader died in November at the age of 83.
The actor, who played the eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who from 2010 to 2014, will star alongside Suki Waterhouse, Carla Gugino, Hannah Murray, Odessa Young, Marianne Rendón, Kaylie Carter and Merritt Wever.
The drama, titled Charlie Says, will focus on the three women, played by Murray, Young and Rendón, who were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the 1969 murders ordered by cult leader Manson, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The women's sentences became life imprisonment when California lifted the death penalty and Charlie Says will explore how they grappled with the reality of their crimes after a young graduate, Karlene Faith (Wever), was sent in to teach them.
The independent film, which begins shooting in Los Angeles this spring, will be directed by American Psycho filmmaker Mary Harron, with a script by her American Psycho writing partner, Guinevere Turner. It will be based on the bestselling 1971 book The Family by Ed Sanders and Karlene Faith's The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten, which told the story of the youngest member of the Manson cult.
Van Houten, who was 19 when the murders took place and is now 68, was denied parole at a hearing last month. She blamed herself for letting Manson control her life, which Gov. Jerry Brown said was evidence that she remains "unsuitable for parole".
Manson died of natural causes on 20th November at a California hospital while serving a life sentence, following months of speculation about the state of his health.
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