Fan Casting The Peacock and the Pen: The Flannery O’Connor Story

In The Peacock and the Pen, we invite audiences into the life of one of America’s most enigmatic literary voices, Flannery O’Connor—a woman who blended grace and darkness with unmatched Southern Gothic flair. The story is set against the backdrop of the American South in the 1950s and follows O’Connor from her early days as a fiercely intelligent girl in Georgia, through her rise as a sharp-witted but misunderstood writer, to the final years she spent writing in her family's farmhouse while battling debilitating lupus. This is not just the story of an author but a woman whose uncompromising vision collided with the complexities of race, religion, and human frailty in the Deep South. As O’Connor confronts her disease, she finds both a painful kinship and a redemptive purpose through her characters, bringing to life a gallery of unforgettable figures that reveal humanity’s deepest contradictions. The Peacock and the Pen is part intimate character study, part meditation on the creative spirit. We see her iconic moments: her fascination with peacocks (a recurring symbol in her work and her life), her uncomfortable but loving relationship with her mother, and her connection to the Catholic faith that both fueled and constrained her. Through flashbacks, dream sequences, and moments of raw confrontation, we delve into her mind, experiencing her fascination with the grotesque and her fierce, dry wit.