After heading firmly back into indie territory with the likes of Gifted and The Only Living Boy In New York following his Spider-Man franchise work, director Marc Webb is sticking to smaller, but interesting movies. He's now collaborating with writer Nick Hornby on a film about the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.
Specifically, the new movie, This Above All will be based on a New Yorker article by Adrian Chen and the memoir by former member Megan Phelps-Roper, the granddaughter of founder Fred Phelps, who became one of the most powerful voices on social media for Westboro, where she used both a picket sign and her Twitter handle to doggedly protest everything from cultural events to funerals. That is, until her ongoing conversations with opponents over Twitter led her to question her belief system. With her mind open to a different way of seeing the world, she and her younger sister made the difficult decision to leave the Church – and be disowned by their family – in order to find a life governed by love.
It's a challenging story, and sure to draw the ire of the vocal church, but one that is clearly worth telling.