Rooney Mara (Carol) will lead Quest For Love, a new feature written and directed by Antonia Campbell-Hughes (It Is in Us All). 

Rooney Mara will star as the lead Maris. The character has been described as a “deeply complex woman who explores her capacity to feel love through her relationship with her estranged ten-year-old son.” 

Mara will also serve as an executive producer on the project with WME Independent handling North American sales. Hanway is handling international. 

Macdara Kelleher and John Keville of Wild Atlantic Pictures are producers on the project. The company’s recent credits include Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon and Saipan starring Steve Coogan.

Campbell-Hughes made her feature debut with It Is in Us All, starring Cosmo Jarvis and Claes Bang. The film premiered at SXSW, where it won the Special Jury Recognition for Extraordinary Cinematic Vision. She has recently wrapped production on her second feature, High End. The film stars Andrea Riseborough, Guy Pearce, and Raffey Cassidy. 

Quest For Love was developed as part of the joint Screen Ireland and Luxembourg Film Fund initiative for female and non-binary filmmakers launched at Cannes in 2023.

The film’s official synopsis reads: “The ruthlessly unsentimental but alluring Maris (Rooney) tears into Paris, with her estranged ten-year-old son Maxy. Raised around her recently deceased father’s euthanasia work, she’s unsure if she’s even capable of feeling love. Setting up home in the charming Marais neighbourhood, she explores her capacity for human connection with Maxy, who desperately craves his mother’s love. Magnetic and funny, Maris easily draws people into her orbit, but her nocturnal habits hint at a dangerous violence that lurks beneath the surface. Unlike his amoral mother, Maxy knows right from wrong – and he’s clever enough to use her tricks against her to survive. Maris re-ignites a relationship with Alex, a devoted old flame whose growing love for Maxy forces her to make a deadly choice between mother and son.”