Looks like Reese Witherspoon is just as busy as her “Big Little Lies” character, Madeline Martha Mackenzie. The Oscar-winning multi-hyphenate is producing adaptations of Gail Honeyman’s “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” and Catherine Steadman’s “Something in the Water” via her new company, Hello Sunshine. Deadline broke the news.
“Eleanor Oliphant,” which Witherspoon might also topline, follows an “out-of-the-ordinary heroine who goes from living a lonely life to realizing the only way to survive is to open your heart.” The novel is Honeyman’s first and was just published by Pamela Dorman Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Julia Cox (“The Last Tycoon”) is attached to pen the adaptation of “Something in the Water.” Steadman’s debut novel “is about a woman whose life is on the upswing. She’s about to get married and is establishing a successful career as a documentary filmmaker. Then she’s thrown a curveball that challenges her ethics and priorities and her life begins to slip from her grasp.” The book’s release date is unknown, but Bantam will publish the book in the U.S. and Simon & Schuster will publish in the UK. Witherspoon is producing with Hello Sunshine Head of Film and TV Lauren Neustadter and Temple Hill’s Jaclyn Huntling, Marty Bowen, and Wyck Godfrey.
Witherspoon has been producing projects left and right lately. She and her former partner Bruna Papandrea were behind the films “Gone Girl” and “Wild” and HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” Although the two are parting ways, Witherspoon and Papandrea are also seeing through their commitment of developing adaptations of Jessica Knoll’s “Luckiest Girl Alive” and “BLL” author Liane Moriarty’s “Truly Madly Guilty.” “Truly Madly Guilty” will also be produced by Witherspoon’s “BLL” co-star Nicole Kidman. All five projects are adaptations of women-written books.
On the acting side, Witherspoon earned raves for her portrayal of a busy-body mother with a secret on “BLL.” The series centers on a group of mothers (Witherspoon, Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz) involved in a murder that takes place during a trivia night hosted by their children’s elementary school. The critically acclaimed project was also a ratings hit, and is expected to rack up a number of Emmy nominations.
Next, you can catch Witherspoon next in Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s romantic comedy “Home Again” in September. The “Wild” actress will also appear in Ava DuVernay’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” which hits theaters March 9, 2018.
