Dakota Johnson is to make her directorial debut with the film, A Tree Is Blue, a coming-of-age drama in which Charli XCX and Jessica Alba are reportedly joining the cast.
Burghardt, Johnson’s Cha Cha Real Smooth co-star, wrote it and could take a part in the film too.
A Tree Is Blue’s production begins next month in Los Angeles under a £10m budget, funded by Rivulet.
Johnson, who has acted in The Materialists and produced Splitsville, has been quietly preparing to move behind the camera.
She previously directed the short movie Loser Baby, which premiered at TIFF last year.
“It’s really close to my heart,” Johnson said at Karlovy Vary, hinting at the project. “Vanessa played my daughter in Cha Cha Real Smooth. She’s incredible and the story deserves care.”
Meanwhile, Charli XCX has been exploring acting alongside her music, appearing in Faces of Death, I Want Your Sex, and A24’s The Moment and has also been working on film scores.
Jessica Alba has Netflix’s Trigger Warning coming up in which she would share the screen with Anthony Hopkins, Andy Garcia, and Al Pacino in Maserati: The Brothers.
The main filming phase for A Tree Is Blue begins in November in Los Angeles with CAA Media Finance handling sales, with California tax credits of £2.4m (₹275m).
