Given that it should be a relatively straight forward romantic comedy, The Rosie Project is proving tougher to put together than an entertaining Tinder profile. Now Sony's TriStar Pictures arm thinks it might have found a director to make it work: Catastrophe's Ben Taylor.
Originally adapted by writer Graham Simison from his eponymous 2013 book, the film will follow the story of professor Don Tillman, a genetics expert on the Asperger’s scale who never seems to be able to land a second date. He starts The Wife Project, working up a questionnaire to find the perfect partner, but is instead entranced by the free-spirited Rosie, who matches none of his criteria but might just be his soul mate. The book has been big both here and in Australia where it's set, and a sequel, The Rosie Effect, arrived in 2014. Days Of Summer script duo Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have written the most recent draft of the script, which first attracted Phil Lord and Chris Miller. They departed to focus on the Han Solo spin-off film (er...) and Richard Linklater jumped into the director's chair, with Jennifer Lawrence considering the Rosie role.
Now the cast slots are empty again, with Taylor taking over directing. He has a little bit of experience directing odd romantic tales after three years helping Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney bring Catastrophe to TV screens. He's also worked on shows such as Divorce, Cuckoo and the pilot for the US version of Raised By Wolves. If he does end up making The Rosie Project, it'll be his film directing debut.