Julia Robert is teaming up with James Gray to tackle an adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson’s forthcoming novel, Kill Your Darlings.
Scott Stuber’s rebooted United Artists label, as well as its big brother Amazon MGM Studios, have picked up the powerhouse package that also comes with a bevvy of producers
Roberts will produce with partners Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill through their Red Om Films banner, as well as Tribeca Studios’ Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh. Stuber and partner Nick Nesbitt are also producing.
The book, from HarperCollins, doesn’t come out until June, but Amazon and Stuber acted quickly to take the book off the Hollywood market. The story is a murder mystery told in reverse.
Darlings centers on Tom and Wendy Graves, a couple married for over 25 years who appear to have a picture-perfect life, but beneath the surface, they harbor a shocking secret. From the book’s description, the story moves “backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago. Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.”
Joel Gotler, who represents the book and author, and Swanson will executive produce.
The project reunites Roberts and Red Om Films with Stuber, with whom she worked on Leave the World Behind, a thriller became one of Netflix’s most popular films of all time. The two are also working on Panic Carefully, Sam Esmail’s upcoming film that has Roberts starring and Stuber among the producers. The movie is currently shooting in London.
Stuber is currently developing several films with United Artists, including adult mystery thriller The Girl in the Lake, an adaptation of a book by Lauren Oliver with Scarlett Johansson eyeing to star. Stuber is also a producer on Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein for Netflix, as well as 20th Century’s Deliver Me From Nowhere, the Scott Cooper-directed Bruce Springsteen drama that stars The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White.
Welsh and Rosenthal are currently producing the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios holiday movie Oh. What. Fun. directed by Michael Showalter with Michelle Pfeiffer leading an ensemble cast.
Gray is known for his dramas Armageddon Time, Ad Astra and The Lost City of Z. He is in pre-production on his latest feature, Paper Tiger, a crime thriller starring Adam Driver, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong. Gray is represented by CAA and Jackoway Austen.
Roberts is repped by CAA and Hirsch Wallerstein.
Source link
