Given that the last time she worked with James Mangold (on Walk The Line), Reese Witherspoon took home an Oscar, you can see why she might jump at the chance to reunite with him. They’re now making a deal to collaborate on memoir adaptation **Three Little Words{
Ashley Rhodes-Courter wrote the original story and submitted it to the New York Times Essay Contest, where it won first prize back in 2004. Mangold’s producing partner Cathy Konrad discovered it at the time and snapped up the film option.
Now Lewis Colick (The Fighter) and Michael Petroni (The Book Thief) have worked together on a script that follows a young Florida girl who is put into the child welfare system at the age of four. Nine years later, an unpaid care volunteer (Witherspoon) discovers her and starts a search for the child’s biological mother (Amanda Seyfried, though she’s still only in talks) to persuade her to surrender her parental rights so the kid can start a new life.
Mangold, who is putting the finishing touches to The Wolverine ready for its July 25 launch, will start shooting Three Little Words in September. Witherspoon is also in talks to co-star with Keanu Reeves in sci-fi pic **Passengers, but Words will film first if all goes to plan.