Not every memoir deserves to be turned into a film. But former gossip columnist Jeanette Walls certainly seems to have the goods, given her deeply dysfunctional childhood and ability to turn a phrase. Now Lionsgate has snapped up the rights to her book, The Glass Castle, and is developing it for The Hunger Games’ Jennifer Lawrence.
The Glass Castle was published in 2005 and sat on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 250 weeks. But while the tome does delve into Walls' career, it nabbed attention more for the tales of her youth.
One of four children raised by parents Rex and Rose Mary, Walls endured poverty despite her mother owning land in Texas worth millions. Though creative and intelligent, Rose Mary was also eccentric and immature, hardly the best qualities for raising children. And Rex hit the bottle hard, all the while dreaming of getting rich and giving his family a proper life.
Paramount and Brad Pitt’s Plan B company snapped up the rights to the book when it was first in the shops, but they’ve since lapsed and now Lionsgate has them. Fright Night’s Marti Noxon is on board to write the screenplay, which seems like a good match of voice and source material to us.
Lawrence has been keeping busy in between her trips to Panem: she’ll appear in horror pic **House At The End Of The Street **and David O Russell’s The Silver Linings Playbook this year, and is at work on Susanne Bier’s Serena.