There is a select group of Playlisters who think Julia Stiles hasn’t quite gotten the due she’s deserved and have been a little bummed the actress hasn’t been seen on the big screen since “The Bourne Ultimatum.” But it seems Stiles has quietly been doing about half a dozen different things. She has earned a degree in English Literature from Columbia University; appeared in David Mamet’s “Oleanna;” made “Sexting,” a short film directed by Neil LaBute (of course) and has recently joined the cast of “Dexter” where she will have a ten episode arc this season. But the biggest project she has on her plate is a feature adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar.”
The NY Times (via IndieWire) reveals that Stiles has “met with Plath’s friends and listened to recordings of her reading her own poetry” in working on the project. She has tapped NY playwright, actress and screenwriter Tristine Skyler (“Getting To Know You”) to pen the script, and she has done her own research as well, utilizing “Plath’s journals, letters and other archives with the help of leading Plath scholars.” Also on board is Virginia Madsen who will play a therapist, and Nicole Kassell (“The Woodsman”) will be in the director’s chair.
For those of you not familiar with the novel, it’s a landmark work that is largely understood to be a thinly fictionalized account of Plath’s struggles with depression. It’s an important work in the feminist canon, continuing to be a cornerstone and influential book decades after its publication.
But if it seems like a no-brainer to bring such a highly acclaimed and known work to the big screen, in the era of all things tentpolefranchise3D, financing for the microscopically budgeted $5 million film has been tough. “We seemed to have all our creative ducks in order, just as the independent film market collapsed,” Stiles said. “Financing has been really hard.” Only half of the financing has been raised so far, however, co-producer Celine Rattray of Mandalay Vision is confident the rest will come in by the time the film starts rolling next spring.
We’re pretty glad Stiles is making her way back to the big screen, but what we like even more is her attitude. “I think audiences, producers and directors included, develop crushes on actors (actresses in particular) and then lose interest and move on to the next one,” she said. “There are a handful of actors who sustain interest because it’s exciting to watch them get better at what they do. I want to be one of those actors.” We want her to be one those actors too.
