Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s Julia Child documentary has found a home. The worldwide rights to “Julia” (working title), excluding domestic television, have been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, a press release announced. CNN Films, which is serving as exec producer, “will retain U.S. domestic broadcast rights to the feature.”
Currently in production, the Imagine Documentaries title is being made with the cooperation of Child’s family and friends and The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. The doc is based on the books “My Life in France” by Child with Alex Prud’homme, “The French Chef in America: Julia Child’s Second Act” by Prud’homme, and “Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child” by Bob Spitz.
“Using never-before-seen archival footage, personal photos, first-person narratives, and cutting-edge, mouth-watering food cinematography, the film will trace Julia Child’s surprising path,” the source details, “from her struggles to create and publish the revolutionary ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ (1961) which has sold more than 2.5 million copies to date, to her empowering story of a woman who found fame in her 50s, and her calling as an unlikely television sensation.” The press release continues, “‘Julia’ will illuminate Julia Child’s casual upheaval of the male-dominated culinary and television worlds. Almost single-handedly, she crashed the ‘boys’ party’ at the highest levels of creative gastronomy, shattering established notions that the only women Americans wanted to see on TV were young, submissive, and conventionally beautiful.”
Cohen and West are producing as well as directing. No word on a specific release date yet, but “Julia” is expected to hit theaters sometime in 2021.
“Julia’s story is surprising, empowering, sexy, and downright delicious,” said West. “To be working on this project with the teams at Sony Pictures Classics, Imagine Documentaries, and CNN Films is the crème fraîche on the tarte Tatin!” Cohen stressed.
Child became passionate about food and cooking when she was living in Paris with her diplomat husband, and studied at Le Cordon Bleu. She penned “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” when she was almost 50 and rose to fame as a TV host. She taught America how to cook on WGBH’s “The French Chef,” which ran from 1962-1972 and was syndicated on PBS. She also made appearances on talk shows including “Good Morning America” and Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”
Meryl Streep portrayed Child in an Oscar-nominated performance in Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia.” Sarah Lancashire (“Happy Valley”) will star in HBO Max’s drama pilot about the icon, also entitled “Julia.” Joan Cusack was previously attached to star.
Child died in 2004 at the age of 91.
“RBG,” West and Cohen’s portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars last year. It won an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Also exec produced by CNN Films, the box office hit netted over $14 million. “RBG” marked West’s directorial debut. Cohen previously helmed several docs including “American Veteran” and “The Sturgeon Queens.”
