Like many, we fell in love with Marielle Heller’s award-winning directorial debut, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl.” The writer-director’s next project, Fox Searchlight’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” just kicked off principal photography in New York, Screen International reports. The dark comedy is an adaptation of Lee Israel’s memoir of the same name and stars Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy.
The “Ghostbusters” actress will play Israel, a former writer of celebrity profiles. When she was unable to secure further gigs in her field, Israel hatched an audacious plan: to forge letters from late writers and actors, and sell them. Her wildly inventive solution to her financial woes worked — at first. Israel eventually faced legal consequences for the crimes. Heller will direct a script from Nicole Holofcener (“Enough Said”) and Jeff Whitty (“Avenue Q”).
If the project sounds familiar but these names register as news, that’s because Julianne Moore originally signed on to portray Israel. She left over creative differences. Holofcener was meant to direct, but stepped down due to scheduling.
“Archer Gray president of production Anne Carey, Archer Gray founder Amy Nauiokas, and David Yarnell produce and Pamela Hirsch, Jawal Nga, and Bob Balaban serve as executive producers,” Screen International writes.
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” co-stars Jane Curtin (“The Librarians”), Dolly Wells (“45 Years”), Anna Deavere Smith (“Nurse Jackie”), Richard E. Grant (“Game of Thrones”), and Jennifer Westfeldt (“Friends with Kids”).
Heller won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature for “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” an adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner’s 2002 graphic novel. The coming-of-age drama centers on a precocious, artistic teen who has an affair with her mother’s boyfriend. In an interview with Women and Hollywood, Heller said of Gloeckner’s book, “I was so blown away by the honesty of the depiction of female adolescence, I knew I had to do something with the material. It was the most vulnerable, relatable version of a teenage girl I had ever come across, and I realized how starved we are for such characters.”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is just one of the projects on Heller’s docket. She’s also inked to write and direct a feature based on HBO’s award-winning gay rights doc “The Case Against 8,” and “Kolma,” a fantasy thriller starring “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” breakout Daisy Ridley.
