With their recent blockbuster smash, The Hunger Games, Lionsgate has gone from being a lesser studio, funding niche genre pictures and picking up the scraps that other studios throw away for distribution deals, to having the capital and cache to move up in the movie-making world. And you better believe that they’re feeling pretty grateful to The Hunger Games’ star, Jennifer Lawrence, for their new-found success. So, it should come as no surprise that the studio is trying to do everything they can to prop Lawrence up as an even bigger star and milk all of the money out of her fame that they can.
To that end they’ve optioned a book for a film adaptation, with the intentions of developing it as Lawrence’s next starring vehicle. According to Deadline Lindytown, Lionsgate now has the rights to The Glass Castle: A Memoir, which is the autobiography of gossip columnist and regular MSNBC.com contributor Jeanette Walls.
Walls had a challenging, unique upbringing, that gets explained in her book’s Amazon description like so:
“Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains…Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town—and the family—Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents’ betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.
What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that, despite its profound flaws, gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.”
The basic beats of this story – the living in a poor community and providing for your siblings elements – should seem pretty familiar to fans of Lawrence’s career. She’s already played characters who have had very similar upbringings, not just in The Hunger Games, but also in her Oscar-nominated role in Winter’s Bone. Clearly Lionsgate feels as if they’ve found this actress’ particular wheelhouse, and they’re doing whatever they can to take advantage of it.
What do you think? Are you open to the idea of getting another opportunity to watch Lawrence do what she does best, or are you ready to watch her tackle something different already?