Jessica Brown Findlay Scores Lead Role in New Fantasy ‘Winter’s Tale’

If you’re like me, you still haven’t caught up with the PBS series “Downton Abbey” despite hearing rave reviews about it. So please excuse my unfamiliarity with the work of Jessica Brown Findlay, who plays Lady Sybill Cawley on the show, but the actress has just signed onto a project that will definitely give her more exposure. According to Deadline, Findlay has won the coveted lead role in Winter’s Tale, the century-spanning epic based on Mark Helprin’s book set to be the directorial debut of A Beautiful Mind screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. We’ll ignore his work on the Schumacher Batman films for now. Read on! The book is about Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar who breaks into a mansion in New York City, only to fall in love with the daughter of his mark when he finds she’s still in the house, sick and dying. Lake is able to stop time …