How do you keep your franchise star happy and in house? Pick up a project to develop for them — and if it’s based on a critically acclaimed, best-selling book then all the better.
Lionsgate has snapped up the rights to Jeanette Walls‘ "Glass Castle: A Memoir" as a vehicle for their "The Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawerence. And it’s some pretty powerful material. The book — which stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for over 250 weeks — tells the true tale of Walls’ childhood, which found her raised by abusive, dysfuctional parents. Her mother Rose Mary was creative, but also eccentric and immature, owning land in Texas worth millions (something they found out later) while they lived in deep poverty. At one point after Jeanette had grown up, Rose Mary choose to be homeless for the "adventure." Meanwhile, her father Rex had trouble keeping a job, drank and smoked heavily, and had a dream of striking it rich and building the family the titular "glass castle."
So yes, it’s some very powerful stuff and should be solid with Lawrence in the lead. Marti Noxon ("Buffy The Vampire Slayer," "Fright Night") will pen the script. No word yet on who will direct, but this isn’t the only non-Panem movie Lawrence has on the way. The horror flick "The House At The End Of The Street" and David O. Russell‘s "The Silver Linings Playbook" arrive later this year, and she’s currently filming the Depression era drama "Serena" with Susanne Bier. [Deadline]
