7 Miles Out: Carol Morley to direct film adaptation of her semi-autobiographical novel

Director and screenwriter Carol Morley's next project is a film adaptation of her semi-autobiographical novel, 7 Miles Out, according to the latest report by Variety. She will be writing and directing, and her longtime collaborator Cairo Cannon is producing through their joint production company, Cannon and Morley Productions.

This is a very personal project for the director, as the story follows a fictionalized version of herself called Ann. The character loses her father after he drops her off at school. It's a story about recovery, where the character has almost lost her life after the tragic incident but somehow pulls herself together, finding solace in Manchester's 1970s and 80s music scene.

As of now, there aren't many details about the 7 Miles Out movie beyond this. However, think of it as a sequel to her 2000 documentary film The Alcohol Years, which chronicles her early experiences with alcohol, beginning at age 12.

What did Carol Morley say about the 7 Miles Out film?

Florence Pugh (left) and Carol Morley (right) (Image via Red Carpet News TV)

Morley spoke with the BBC in 2023 about the difficulties she faced with 7 Miles Out. One of those challenges included revisiting her memories of her father, which was undoubtedly daunting for the writer. She said during the interview:

"For some reason I naively thought I wouldn’t have to do much to my book in order to transpose it for the screen and adapt it for the screen. And I found really I began again… I don’t think one line of dialogue remains really from the book."

According to her Wikipedia page, Carol left school at the age of sixteen to join various music bands. She began using alcohol at an early age, but this didn't last long, as she quit soon after a traumatic incident.

Carol Morley's career in a glimpse

Throughout her career, Carol Morley has written and directed 15 films, and 7 Miles Out will be her 16th. Her short films include:

Girl (1993)
Secondhand Daylight (1993)
I'm Not Here (1994)
The Week Elvis Died (1997)
Everyday Something (2001)
Return Trip (2001)
Stalin My Neighbour (2004)
The Fear of Trilogy (2006)
The Madness of the Dance (2006)

Her first feature film was The Alcohol Years, followed a decade later by Edge in 2010.

In 2011, she made the drama-documentary Dreams of a Life, about Joyce Carol Vincent, a woman whose corpse was discovered roughly three years after her death. The cause of her death remains unknown due to advanced decomposition.

Then she wrote and directed The Falling (2014), which starred Maisie Williams and Florence Pugh, marking Pugh's film debut. Both actresses play best friends Lydia Lamont and Abigail Mortimer, respectively.

After this, she adapted Martin Amis' novel Night Train into the film Out of Blue, starring Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones, Jacki Weaver, and others.

Most recently, she directed Typist Artist Pirate King, a biopic of British artist Audrey Amiss, starring Monica Dolan.