The Oscar-nominated co-writer of “The Shape of Water” has booked her next gig. She’ll follow-up the otherworldly fairy tale with a gritty drama set in the Rust Belt, an adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” Deadline broke the news.
J.D. Vance’s 2016 best-seller tackles the white underclass, race, and privilege in the United States. “Vance, raised poor among working-class ‘hillbillies,’ explores his childhood and family struggles as they navigate through drug addiction, and social, and economic challenges,” according to the source. “Supported by his larger-than-life grandmother, he developed a deep appreciation for education that laid the foundation for him to rise out of poverty and its cultural restraints.”
Taylor is up for an Oscar at this Sunday’s ceremony for penning Sally Hawkins-starrer “The Shape of Water.” “Divergent,” “Game of Thrones,” and “Hope Springs” are among her previous credits. She co-created The WB’s “Jack & Bobby,” a drama about a future U.S. President set in his boyhood.
Ron Howard is directing “Hillbilly Elegy” and producing via his Imagine Entertainment. Imagine’s Erica Huggins is also among the project’s producers.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Vanessa for years, and followed her as she explored a wide range of worlds — from ‘Game of Thrones’ to ‘The Shape of Water,’” said Huggins. “Her background brings a fresh perspective and unique sensibility to the material, and I couldn’t be happier to finally team up on a project so timely and special.”
“Normally, when I’m approached with a project on which they’re ‘looking for a female writer,’ I pass,” Taylor revealed in a feature she wrote for Variety last month. “Oftentimes when they say they want a woman to write a particular story, what they really mean is that it’s a story about a woman or girl that they believe only women or girls will ever care about. And you never hear they’re ‘looking for a male writer,’ despite the fact that often only male writers are being considered for a job.”
At this year’s Golden Globes, where Taylor was up for Best Screenplay, she “tried to imagine a Hollywood beyond gender, where women made up fully half of the writers, directors, producers, executives, actors, crews … It was almost vertiginous to imagine, like standing at the edge of a skyscraper,” she recalled. “I realized I was afraid to hope, the disappointment would be so great if we fail. We can’t fail. It’s not just that the Time’s Up for tolerating predatory bullshit. The time has come for all of us to take our seats at the table.”
Taylor penned the upcoming live-action “Aladdin,” set to hit theaters May 24, 2019.
