The film is about the life of Aung San Suu Kyi (Yeoh) who spent more than a decade under house arrest. David Thewlis portrays Suu Kyi's husband, Dr. Michael Aris. Rebecca Frayn began working on the project after she and her husband, producer Andy Harries, visited Burma in the early 1990s.Harries' production company Left Bank Pictures began development of the script in 2008 under the working title Freedom from Fear. Harries wanted Michelle Yeoh as the lead and had the script sent to her.