Having your supposed memoir revealed as full of porky pies – and being confronted about it in front of a huge TV audience, no less – is surely the sort of event that makes film studios flee from turning it into a movie. And yet with James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, he may yet see it come to pass, as director Sam Taylor-Johnson and actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson are working on a new version.
Frey's 2003 book, which purported to chronicle his battle with drug addiction became notorious three years later when website The Smoking Gun published proof that he had fabricated several of the bigger events in the text. He went on Oprah Winfrey's TV show that year and admitted as much. Warner Bros. had been intending to make a movie of the book, but backed away, refused to make eye contact and whistled once the controversy broke.
Now, though, the Johnsons are looking to work together for the first time since Nowhere Boy, the film where they met. Despite the problematic nature of the story, they're apparently still interested in the core idea of a man battling his addiction demons. Aaron most recently worked opposite Chris Pine on Outlaw King.