Wife and husband duo Sam Taylor-Johnson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are once again teaming up for a project. THR reports that the pair are writing the screenplay adaptation of James Frey‘s bestselling novel A Million Little Pieces, with Sam lined up to direct the film and Aaron to star.
The book itself is controversial. Initially released in 2003 to great acclaim, it was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club while a bidding war broke out in Hollywood with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston landing the movie rights. However, Frey was outed as a fraud when it was revealed he manufactured most of the story which he had presented as truth.
The book was reclassified as fiction, and despite the controversy, still remains a powerful story of one man’s journey to sobriety. Once people had discovered Frey had duped them, interest in a film adaptation petered out, but it seems the Taylor-Johnson family will take a stab at adapting the tough story.
The pair previously collaborated on the John Lennon film Nowhere Boy, before Sam landed the director’s gig for Fifty Shades Of Grey, which reeled in $571 million worldwide. She also recently helmed episodes of the Netflix series Gypsy, but after butting heads with author E.L. James, Johnson opted not to return for the Fifty Shades Of Grey sequels.
Instead, she’s sticking with family, and she told THR in May: “We are already parents that run our house, so when we work together it’s the best”.
No word yet on when filming will begin, but it’s a curious project. Hollywood and others felt burned when they were made to seem like fools and turned against the book, despite it being a prime candidate for a successful film. Let’s hope the Taylor-Johnson’s can make others regret passing on it for years.
#Peace.Love.AMillionLittlePieces
