Elvis, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann has found a nearly unheard-of lead for his exciting new movie, a biopic of the life of Joan of Arc, tentatively тιтled Jehanne d’Arc. The two-time Oscar nominee, known for his outrageous and glitzy pictures, co-wrote the forthcoming Warner Bros. movie with playwright Ava Pickett.

Following previous reports that she was being eyed for the lead role, Vogue has confirmed that 18-year-old Isla Johnston, primarily known for playing the younger version of Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, has been cast as Luhrmann’s Joan of Arc. Johnston is also appearing in Nicolas Cage’s upcoming biblical horror The Carpenter’s Son.

Luhrmann says: “I feel blessed that we found her.” There was some speculation that Jenna Ortega could play Joan of Arc in Luhrmann’s picture, as the Wednesday star once called it her dream role, but the director has previously perfectly cast young, relatively unknown stars and launched them to widespread fame, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, and Austin Butler.

While auditioning, Luhrmann had Johnston read from George Bernard Shaw’s play Saint Joan as well as a Fleabag monologue. Joan of Arc is a semi-mythic figure who, as a teenager, led French troops to victory at the Siege of Orleans in 1429. Johnston says of the character she is to play: “No one in history quite knows how she did what she did.“

What This Means For Baz Luhrmann’s Joan Of Arc

ᴅᴇᴀᴅline and Vogue also both report that Luhrmann’s wife and design partner Catherine Martin is involved with the development of his Joan of Arc movie, seemingly promising that it will be as visually striking as his past ventures. Luhrmann, Martin, and Pickett conducted extensive research into Joan’s life and the time period she lived in to inform the movie.

Yet precise historical accuracy is not necessarily what people expect from a Baz Luhrmann movie – not so much as the circus tent atmosphere. Thus, Jehanne d’Arc could be his best film yet, as it blends the impact of the real history with his favored stylistic elements. But the team still wanted to ground the narrative in the idea of Joan as a young person.

Pickett says: “The thing that we really bonded over was Jehanne d’Arc the teenage girl, rather than Jehanne d’Arc the cultural icon or the legend.” In this sense, Johnston, being a younger star whose face isn’t ingrained into the zeitgeist quite yet, but is still doubtlessly very talented, is a crucial ingredient for the new movie.

What This Means For Isla Johnston & The Joan Of Arc Movie

Of course, this is set to be a major launchpad for Johnston’s career. Baz Luhrmann‘s past casting choices suggest she is going to be amazing, and she will do much to elevate Jehanne d’Arc and vice versa. Given the high-profile status of the project, people might have been imagining a huge star in the role — but that makes Johnston’s casting, surpᴀssing all the fan favorites, that much more intriguing.