Cate Blanchett is set to play Martha Stewart in “Good Thing,” a new feature biopic about the lifestyle mogul’s career, with Janicza Bravo directing. Variety reports the project is moving forward, with Blanchett attached as lead and Bravo, the filmmaker behind “Zola,” in the director’s chair.
The news appears to have surfaced through Stewart herself before any larger formal rollout. In Variety’s report, Stewart said she had been “hearing rumors” about the project and added, “I think there’s something in the works with Cate Blanchett.” That lines up with the trade’s report that Blanchett is attached to star in the film, which centers on Stewart’s rise as a lifestyle-media empire builder.
Bravo is a strong match for material that could easily turn stiff or dutiful in the wrong hands. She broke through in features with “Lemon,” then made the jump to a larger profile with “Zola,” the sharp, chaotic A24 film she co-wrote and directed. With “Good Thing,” the project now has a clear lead, a recognizable subject, and a filmmaker whose work has tended to resist the usual neatness of the cradle-to-empire biopic.
The biopic will also arrive after Stewart already got a fresh round of cultural reassessment in Netflix’s 2024 documentary “Martha,” directed by R.J. Cutler, which charted her rise, public fall, and comeback in her own words. There is no indication yet that “Good Thing” is taking direct inspiration from the documentary. Still, it means Bravo’s film enters a landscape where Stewart has recently been framed again as a self-made business force, not just a punchline or a brand.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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