Reed Morano To Direct The Charlie Kaufman-Written 'Memory Police' For Amazon

Coming off his surreal mind-bender “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” for Netflix what is Charlie Kaufman doing next aside from contemplating its Oscar chances next year? Well, per his usual downcast temperament, he was considering the end of his directing career, but suggested he would always still write and recently, he suggested one of those projects could be an adaptation of Yōko Ogawa novel “The Memory Police.” Well, it seems those conversations actually turned into something. Deadline reveals that Kaufman has been hired to adapt the book for Amazon. What’s more, there’s already a director attached in Reed Morano.

READ MORE: Charlie Kaufman Reveals He May Adapt ‘The Memory Police’ For An Upcoming Project

“The Memory Police” has been described as “a surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss,” which definitely sounds like it’s up Kaufman’s alley. More specifically, it’s also been described as a “haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance,” so it definitely sounds like it has layers that he has yet to explore. Here’s the logline:

READ MORE: Charlie Kaufman Isn’t Sure He’ll Direct Another Film But Is Currently Writing ‘Memory Police’ & An HBO Series

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island’s inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

Morano has come a long way in a very short while. In the first part of her career, she was a celebrated cinematographer who has shot many an acclaimed indie movie like “For Ellen,” “The Skeleton Twins” and HBO’s “Looking” series. In 2015 she made her directorial debut with the Olivia Wilde-starring indie “Meadowland,” and her directing career soon took off when she became an integral part of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” as a producer and director and became the first woman to win the Best Director Emmy for the show’s excellent pilot episode in 2017.

Since then, she’s worked at a fast clip and directed the Sundance indie “I Think We’re Alone Now” (2018) and the big-budget action spy film, “The Rhythm Section” (2020)  for Paramount. Morano is massively in demand at the moment. Also in the works are the series “The Power” for Amazon which will come first, “Pretty Things” with Nicole Kidman attached, “The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence” for Amazon and Blumhouse, “Sabaya” with Zoe Saldana attached to star, and “The Godmother” for Jennifer Lopez and STX Films. Get in line to work with Reed Morano. [Deadline]