As I’m sure is the case for many who follow the Hollywood happenings, I can’t help but wonder why certain projects are pushed forward. Case in point is Columbia’s Hothouse Flowers, which the Hollywood Reporter says Julia Roberts has just signed on to star in and produce.
Flowers will someday (after the strike ends) be adapted Hannibal Rising-style from a so far nonexistant novel (it doesn’t appear to have a release date) of the same name by Margot Berwin, whom the article states is a writer at Nerve.com. I don’t know anything about that site or Berwin herself, but a quick search revealed this, ah, interesting piece she wrote.
It appears Berwin’s aim is for the book to be as clichéd as possible, as she will tell the tale of “a recently divorced woman who is dissatisfied with her job at a Manhattan ad agency and goes off on an adventure that takes her to places she never expected to go.”
Since the film has nothing (not even a writer, obviously) but one actress and a pack of producers, this one will probably sit in stasis for a while before being positioned as Oscar bait in fall 2009. In the meantime, Roberts is going to go to work on Tony Gilroy’s next, Duplicity.
3 comments
Hah! and here, for a second, I thought someone was actually thinking of the impossible task of adapting Aldiss's "Hothouse"… But, of course, it's just some crapmantic vomit instead. That's a relief, considering what hollywood would've done to Aldiss's novel.
it's inconceivable to me how someone who writes like ms. berwin could get either a writing job, a novel deal, or a movie deal, let alone all three. wonder who she blew…
This deal is well-deserved. I knew the writer many years ago. Her writing is still witty, imaginative, deceptively multi-layered, and fun. Julia Roberts must've seen this. Read the book. Support the film. Maybe you will too. And regarding getting a deal? Hey, years of trying. Hard work really does pay.
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