Director John Madden gave the screenplay to actress Jessica Chastain personally. He had only her in mind for the role after he read the spec script. Madden had previously directed Chastain in the film Il debito (2010).
The script for this film was discovered from a query letter by the writer's manager in Spring 2014, and further developed and exposed to the market in early 2015. The unrepresented screenwriter was living in Asia at the time and was attempting to solicit industry reps over the Internet. In less than one year, the spec script was acquired, attracted an Oscar-nominated director and actress, procured financing and distribution, and was put on a progress-to-production track.
The screenplay was ranked in the top five of Hollywood's 2015 Black List, an annual tally of the industry's favorite yet-produced scripts of the year.
It's reported that Steven Spielberg was a fan of the script and considered directing the project before John Madden was hired. It was ultimately decided that Spielberg's availability was too far out to serve the expectations of the production.