Eva Longoria Jack Whitehall Evelyn Waugh Adaptation Decline And Fall

EXCLUSIVE: Eva Longoria is in final negotiations to join Brit comedy star Jack Whitehall in BBC Two’s high-end adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s classic social satire Decline And Fall. James Wood (Rev) is adapting the three-part miniseries. Set in 1920s Wales, Decline And Fall is a bitingly funny satire that follows the life and times of hapless Paul Pennyfeather (Whitehall) who is sent down from Oxford after a wild, drunken party and finds himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at a boys’ private school in Wales. There he meets the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde (Longoria), the wealthy, powerful, and beautiful South American woman, who becomes the object of his affections. Guillem Morales (Julia’s Eyes) is set to direct and Anne Baxter, Ben Cavey and Will Gould are producing for Cave Bear and Tiger Aspect. Principal photography is set to commence July 18th for 7 weeks in Wales.

The project marks a further step in Whitehall’s development into a bona fide leading man, having graduated from TV series Bad Education, also with Cavey, a popular show for BBC Three, which broke the record for the highest-rated first episode of a comedy on the channel when it debuted in 2013. The feature adaptation of Bad Education was released in the UK last year by Entertainment Film Distributors.

Longoria is a Golden Globe Award-nominated and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning multi-hyphenate. Since breaking through on Desperate Housewives, Longoria has guest starred on Fox’s Brooklyn Nine Nine, Lifetime’s Devious Maids, and starred on NBC’s Telenovela — the latter two of which she also exec produced through her production banner UnbeliEVAble Entertainment.

Longoria also has several upcoming films including the Jason Blum/Brian Grazer produced Lowriders; and Refugio, written and directed by Academy Award-nominee Demian Bichir.

Additionally, Longoria has just secured a guest role on the new Lorne Michaels’ variety series for NBC Maya And Marty. She is repped by Brillstein Entertainment and CAA. Whitehall is repped by United Agents and CAA.