Here are a couple of updates on projects that now have some writers, the first a unique take on a literary icon, the second a crass remake no one is asking for….
Anyway, let's start with the good stuff. While the name Emma Forrest is still waiting for a produced credit on a feature film, her projects are intriguing enough that we're always curious what she's up to. She first came to fame on the 2009 Black List with "Liars (A-E)" a unique, female-led road comedy that had Richard Linklater set to direct with Rebecca Hall and Kat Dennings to star (sounds awesome, right?) before a variety of factors, including the writer's strike, pretty much tanked the project. Forrest's name burbled up earlier this year with her memoir "Your Voice In My Head" being turned into a feature film starring Emma Watson and directed by David Yates. But the director left the project last month for personal reasons, and Watson is going to be spending most of her summer on Darren Aronofsky's "Noah," so no word what's going on with that one…
…but nonetheless, Forrest soldiers on, and her next gig is adapting "My Salinger Year" for production company River Road. Based on the novel by Smith Rakoff, the story was inspired by the author's own experiences when she worked at the agency repping the reclusive author, and found herself soon becoming the barrier between Salinger and the public, answering the mail he didn't want to read. It's certainly a unique entry point to a man people know very little about, who has been more hidden from the world than even Terrence Malick. So we'll be curious to see how this project takes shape.
Meanwhile, in less interesting news, that "Police Academy" remake is still happening and now Jermey Garelick has been hired to write the script. Wait, who? He's the writer behind the Vince Vaughn comedy "The Break-Up," and has been linked with a variety of less than appealing projects in development, like the live action movie version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," "The Insane Laws," the forever developing "Baywatch" movie and "An Ex To Grind." Anyway, he seems to be the perfect choice to write a new script for the remake, which has been in the works for ages. Garelick's biggest claim to fame is doing rewrites on "The Hangover," so we only venture to guess that the eventual result from from director Scott Zabielski ("Tosh.0") will be nothing if not zany. [Deadline]
