Alleged ax-murderess Lizzie Borden has been at the center of American folklore since the gruesome killings of her father and stepmother in the 1800s. Lizzie is a new biographical thriller from the minds of Chloë Sevigny and screenwriter Bryce Krass. Set in 1892, the narrative will follow Borden from her life in Fall River, Massachusetts, to her trial and acquittal in her family's mysterious deaths.
On the morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were hacked to death in their Massachusetts home. Sevigny stars as the titular character, Lizzie Borden, with Kristen Stewart acting opposite as Bridget Sullivan, an Irish maid who comes to live with the Borden family. The two develop a secret, intimate relationship.
The thriller will feature Fiona Shaw as Lizzie's stepmother, Abby Borden and Jamy Sheridan as Lizzie's misogynistic father, Andrew Borden.
The trailer, released Friday, opens with a bloodcurdling scream and cuts to Lizzie's (Sevigny's) face as an interrogator asks her, "Did your father have any enemies?" She replies, "This is America, sir. Every man with a pulse has enemies."
Lizzie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and has been Sevigny's passion project since 2010, the actor told HuffPost in January. With Krass as screenwriter and Sevigny as executive producer, the story of Lizzie began as a four-part HBO miniseries. Eventually, it grew into the feature film it is today with Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.
"So much has been said [about Borden]," Sevigny told HuffPost. "I think that we just really wanted to focus on how she went about finding [her freedom] and how important that was to her and what that meant to her."
Borden has remained as one of the central characters in the American supernatural myth. The Borden house is reportedly haunted and was featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters in 2015. The story of her life and the murders have been adapted into books, television shows, films, documentaries and plays. The case was memorialized in a popular skipping-rope song:
"Lizzie Borden took an ax, gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41."
The Borden House has been a bed-and-breakfast since 1996 and is available for tours.
"I wanted [Lizzie] to be this rousing, smash-the-patriarchy piece," Sevigny continued. "Then she gets everything she wants monetarily—the capitalist dream. She gets the house on the hill, and Bridget leaves her. Her sister leaves her. She ends up alone."
Lizzie is slated to release September 14.
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