Despite the critical and box-office thumping of “Jennifer’s Body,” Hollywood still believes that screenwriter Diablo Cody’s lightning can strike twice, as Mandate Pictures have acquired the rights to her latest screenplay, “Young Adult.”
Mandate are teaming with fellow “Juno” producers Mason Novick, Mr. Mudd and Cody herself, to bring the project to the big screen, of which very little is known other than its a “comedy with a strong dramatic backbone.” Just yesterday, we reported that Cody was working on a script about a woman who’s stalking her high-school sweetheart. Could this be that project? It’s anybody’s guess right now.
There is no director attached yet, but given the pedigree being lined up behind the project, we imagine some decent names are going to be sought out to helm the picture.
UPDATE: THR confirm that “Young Adult” is in fact the female anti-hero project we reported yesterday adding that the story centers on a thirtysomething, divorced, young-adult fiction writer in Minneapolis who returns to her hometown to chase the ex-boyfriend, who’s now married with a kid, that got away.
The project is being pitched as a “comedy with a strong dramatic backbone” reiterating Cody’s description of it as a “serious and fucked up” tale with “elements of comedy.” It’ll also join Mandate’s upcoming line up of grounded comedies including the likes of Seth Rogen’s Untitled Cancer Comedy, Jennifer Garner’s “Butter” and the Jason Bateman-Jennifer Aniston starrer “The Switch.”
