Per Deadline, Lily Rabe has signed on to direct and star in an adaptation of Chuck Klosterman‘s novel, Downtown Owl.
Vanessa Hudgens, Finn Wittrock and Ed Harris will also star in the film, while Hamish Linklater, Rabe’s romantic partner, has written the screenplay and will co-direct.
Klosterman’s novel is set in 1983 in the fictional country town of Owl, North Dakota, and follows the lives of three different characters whose lives are tied together during a record-breaking blizzard.
An older man named Horace enjoys hanging around with his friends at the local coffee shop and indulging in the simple pleasures of life; Mitch is a brooding and solemn teenager who holds a spot as his high school’s backup quarterback; and Julia, completely new to the area, is an English teacher about to bring the town more than they bargained for.
Klosterman usually specializes in quirky non-fiction, and Downtown Owl is one of his rare novels. But despite the premise sounding like something off the back of your generic YA blurb, the book is an interesting examination of how we perceive reality through different forms of media.
Award-winning musician T Bone Burnett, Bob Dylan‘s lead guitarist in the 1970s, will be in charge of music for the production. That should please Klosterman, who is known to be a music expert, with many of his books covering the topic in various ways. Burnett has previously worked on films such as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Cold Mountain, and Walk The Line.
Rabe and Linklater said in a statement:
“We are so thrilled to have the opportunity, with this phenomenal cast, exquisite crew, and brilliant producing partners, to bring Chuck Klosterman‘s human, haunting, and hilarious novel to the screen. We both grew up in small towns, towns that we love. The town of Owl, sweet and sour, has felt like home to us from the first read and we are elated to be making this love story about home into a movie.”
Shooting has reportedly just begun in Minnesota. There’s currently no word on when Downtown Owl is expected to be released.
#Peace.Love.DowntownOwl
