Frankly, I’m not familiar with Joyce Maynard’s work, and I haven’t been able to gauge if she’s known more for her prose or for the fact that she banged J.D. Salinger that one time. It’s obviously possible her work has some incredible merit, and if one of her titles is being targeted for adaptation then it’s probably likely. I’ll try and pick up one of her novels and find out for myself but regardless, know that her novel Labor Day is being adapted by Jason Reitman, the slightly snooty, oft-Oscar nominated writer/director responsible for Up In The Air and Thank You For Smoking.
Now news today comes from EW that Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin will be leading the director’s adaptation of the aforementioned book, which is apparently about a mother and son in the 80s who take in a bleeding escaped convict, unaware of his situation. Apparently things become more tense as they find out more about him, and the authorities search becomes increasingly intense. There’s a love story element to it, which suddenly makes this sound like The Next Three Days to me. That didn’t turn out so well, but for all his aloofness Reitman is a fine filmmaker. To see him take on a thriller will be interesting, as all of his movies so far have had a pretty low-key tonality to them. New directions are good, if he’s got the chops to manage some adrenaline with his wryly humored melancholy…
Everyone involved has been thick with prestigious projects of late, but it seems like this will be next up for all of them. Not sure when it starts shooting yet.
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