The Casting Couch

Natalie Portman (fondly known on this blog as NatPo) has recently been signed to a new film. It's an adaptation of Ayelet Waldman's novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. You may have read this book (as I did) or are familiar with Ayelet Waldman's other novels (as I am not, really), or you may know her as the woman who publicly declared in the NY Times that she loves her husband (Michael Chabon) more than her children.

Ayelet Waldman is awesome for all of the above reasons. Plus she has a hot genius husband who wrote one of my favorite books (it's not Kavalier and Clay). She's a kickass writer too. She write some mystery series that I've never read, that's admittedly (by her!) kind of cookie cutter fun-type writing. This is not the case with Love. That book ripped my heart out over and over, chapter after chapter.

Basic synopsis: A woman is the second wife of a man, he has an ex-wife and a child with said ex. New Wife has a baby and the baby dies. Now the wife has to deal with caring for her step-son, the son's not-so-sympathetic (and OB/Gyn) mother, and her own issues. I have never cried while reading a book like I cried reading this one. I'm a cryer by nature, but this was like a deluge of sobs. Naturally, I made my mom read it too. She also cried.

So Ms. Waldman sold her film rights, which thrills me. Way to go girl! (Oh, and I'm in love with you AND your husband. And probably your children.) This is all great. I'm just a little concerned with, well, everything. I get like this when my favorite books are forced to transition to the screen. How can they possibly get all the emotion I felt from the book into a 90 minute movie?! Who can play these characters that are so real in my mind?!

I just read in Variety that NatPo is going to be playing the main character, Emilia. I was in a tizzy about this all morning. I personally think, although she may be the right age (27), she just looks too young to play this character. Can she look like a completely wrecked woman and NOT look like just another weepy teenager?

I love me some NatPo, but I'm just not sure. THEN I read that she got the role after Jennifer Lopez suddenly dropped out and I ran to my yoga mat and gave praise to Allah. That would have been a disaster. A soul-crushing disaster.


In better news, it's rumored that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is going to be playing the husband, and LISA KUDROW will be the ex-wife. I was thinking all day about who I think should play Carolyne, and now I realize that LK is perfect. Just perfect.


So fingers crossed, team. And Hollywood, don't you let me and all the other weepers down!!