Oscar-nominated actress Toni Collette is continuing to spread her wings. Back in May, the former “United States of Tara” star nabbed the rights to “The Rosie Project” author Graeme Simsion’s novel and screenplay for “The Best of Adam Sharp,” marking the first project under her newly-launched production company with Jen Turner, Vocab Films. Now Collette and Vocab Films are teaming up with RadicalMedia to develop Julia Dahl’s award-winning novel “Invisible City” for TV, a press release announced. In addition to optioning the murder mystery, Collette penned the pilot and is among the project’s executive producers.
Set in Brooklyn’s old-world, ultra orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, “Invisible City” centers on Rebekah Roberts, “an aspiring young journalist new to New York City, whose mother, a wayward Hasidic Jew from Borough Park, Brooklyn, abandoned her and her Christian father shortly after she was born in order to return to her religion and community,” the release details. “Neither Rebekah nor her father have heard from her since, but when Rebekah is called to cover the story of a murdered Hasidic woman she finds that the search for the truth will draw her deep into the cloistered world where her mother grew up — a world where it’s clear Rebekah is not welcome and everyone has secrets to keep from outsiders, even if it means the murderer could go free.”
“I love Julia Dahl’s novel because it’s about fighting for personal freedom and living an authentic life,” Collette commented. “It couldn’t be a more relevant time to tell this story about acceptance and integration, or lack thereof. These complex female characters are honest, flawed, and inspiring. We can always use more of those.”
RadicalMedia’s President of Entertainment, Justin Wilkes, added, “We are beyond excited to be teaming up with Toni as we continue our expansion into scripted work. We are storytellers at heart and so Toni is the perfect artistic collaborator — she’s passionate, smart, and knows what makes a great complex character and an absorbing story.”
Collette received an Oscar nomination in 2000 for “The Sixth Sense.” Her other film credits include “Miss You Already,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” and “Muriel’s Wedding.” She won a Golden Globe and Emmy for her role in “United States of Tara,” a comedy about a woman with dissociative identity disorder that ran on Showtime from 2009–2011. “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody created the series.
