Going from screenwriter to director isn’t easy. That Deadline article about writer Jeremy Garelick having to go through some considerable hoops to make the transition is a pretty good example.
But when you win an Academy Award (for your first screen credit no less), things change and you make that leap as soon as you possibly can because you may not have another shot (see Dustin Lance Black after “Milk”).
Thus it was announced in April that Geoffrey Fletcher, the screenwriter of “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” (he took the adapted screenplay award last year much to Jason Reitman’s shock), is already moving into the world of first-hand filmmaking.
The project, “Violet and Daisy,” has Carey Mulligan and Saoirse Ronan attached to star in a project being called a new “Thelma & Louise” mixed with “Superbad” and a soupcon of “Pulp Fiction.” That’s pretty much enough to interest any studio, but now that curiosity will be fully piqued as Bruce Willis and Danny Trejo (the star of “Machete”) are also circling the project said to have “plenty of girl power and action.”
The soon-to-be feature film director is also collaborating with Doug Liman on the prison riot story, “Attica,” but “Violet and Daisy” will go before cameras first as it’s scheduled to shoot this fall (and who knows when Liman will get around to “Attica,” frankly; our guess is not soon). And yes, we realize while having only one screen credit to his name so far, Fletcher likely has sold many a screenplay beforehand.