Still riding high on her phenomenal breakthrough leading performance in last year’s Short Term 12, Brie Larson has been lining up her follow-up projects very nicely, and is now eyeing the adaptation of Matthew Quick’s upcoming novel, The Good Luck of Right Now.
The Wrap reports that the young actress is in talks with DreamWorks to take one of the four leading roles, with the Philadelphia-set novel centred on the intertwined lives of four people, all outsiders in their own right, who come together to form the most unlikely of families in the wake of grieving over pain and loss in their respective lives.
Courtesy of Amazon, here’s the synopsis for the original novel.
The Good Luck of Right Now, a funny and tender story about family, friendship, grief, acceptance, and Richard Gere—an entertaining and inspiring tale that will leave you pondering the rhythms of the universe and marveling at the power of kindness and love.
For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?
Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.
A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.
Quick’s upcoming novel will be published in the US on February 11th, before arriving a little later in the UK on 10th April. His debut novel, The Silver Linings Playbook, was of course adapted into David O. Russell’s Oscar-winning movie, led by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine, Ruby Sparks) have signed on to direct, with Mike White (The Good Girl, School of Rock) penning the script for the adaptation.
No word yet on when we can expect production to begin, but the sooner, the better.
Larson is set to be seen later this year in Bollywood musical Basmati Blues, with filming recently commencing on Rupert Wyatt’s The Gambler, the crime-thriller that will see her star opposite Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Lange, and John Goodman.
The actress has very much been in demand in recent years, with Short Term 12 going a long way to gaining her recognition as a leading actress, and it sounds like The Good Luck of Right Now could help cement that status even further.
With any luck, Dayton and Davis will complete their leading quartet in the near future, and I have a feeling we can look forward to seeing The Good Luck of Right Now arrive on our screens in time for Oscar eligibility towards the end of next year, quite possibly following a bow on the festival circuit – I’m predicting Toronto.
