While filmmakerRichard Linklater’s plans to collaborate withJennifer LawrenceonThe Rosie Projectfell through, it appears he’ll be working with an Oscar winner on his next project regardless. TheBoyhoodfilmmaker entered talks to helm an adaptation of authorMaria Semple’s 2012 bestselling novelWhere’d You Go Bernadette?earlier this year, and nowTHRreports thatCate Blanchettis in negotiations to come aboard as the film’s star.
The book revolves around a 15-year-old girl’s search for her mother, an agoraphobic architect who up and disappears one day. With the girl as its narrator, the novel is delightfully told through a series of emails, letters, secret correspondence, and FBI documents as the daughter tries to piece together what happened. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Semple’s novel, and if Linklater’s involvement wasn’t enough to get you excited, Blanchett’s sure will be.
The film has a script by(500) Days of SummerandThe Fault in Our StarsscribesScott NeustadterandMichael H. Weberand is being put together by Annapurna Pictures, which is yetanotherpositive sign for this particular project.The Hunger GamesvetsNina JacobsonandBrad Simpsonare producing alongside Annapurna’sMegan Ellison.
Linklater has hisBoyhoodfollow-upEverybody Wants Somein the can for release in 2016, and while he was initially planning to next directThe Rosie Projectfor Sony (also with a script by Neustadter and Weber),THRreports that Jennifer Lawrencewalked away from that filmafter a lengthy and difficult negotiation with chairmanTom Rothmanover salary. Linklatersoon followed suit(Lawrence brought him into the project in the first place), and while it’s a bummer that that he and Lawrence won’t be working together in the immediate future, Blanchett is far from a consolation prize. She is certainly one of our finest living actresses, turning in not one but three outstanding performances this year alone inCarol,Truth, andCinderella. And now she’s in an Annapurna movie with Richard Linklater directing? Here’s hopingWhere’d You Go Bernadette?comes together sooner rather than later.
For more onWhere’d You Go Bernadette?read the synopsis for the novel below.
Bernadette Fox has vanished.
When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces.
Which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades.Where’d You Go Bernadetteis an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are, and the power of a daughter’s love for her mother. [BN.com]
